[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 57 (Thursday, March 23, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 15624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7157]



[[Page 15624]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RP98-54-029]


Colorado Interstate Gas Company; Notice of Offer of Settlement

March 17, 2000.
    Take notice that on March 8, 2000, Colorado Interstate Gas Company 
(CIG), The Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), Cheyenne Light 
Fuel and Power Company (Cheyenne) and Colorado Springs Utilities 
(Colorado Springs) (collectively called Sponsoring Parties) jointly 
filed an Offer of Settlement under Rule 602 of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedure in the captioned docket. Sponsoring Parties 
filed the Offer of Settlement relating to refunds of the Kansas ad 
valorem taxes to resolve for Consenting Working Interest Owners (as 
defined in the Offer) the issue of refunds due to CIG for 
reimbursements of the Kansas ad valorem taxes consistent with the 
requirements of Public Service Company of Colorado v. FERC \1\ and the 
Commission's subsequent orders. A copy of the Offer of Settlement, is 
on file with the Commission and is available for public inspection in 
the Public Reference Room. The Offer of Settlement may be viewed on the 
web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call 202-208-2222 for 
assistance).
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    \1\ 91 F.3d 1478 (D.C. Cir., 1996), cert. denied 520 U.S. 1227 
(1997).
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    Under the Offer of Settlement, each Consenting Working Interest 
Owner's refund liability will be reduced by 12.5% which represents the 
typical landowners royalty share of the total refunds. In addition, 
each Consenting Working Interest Owner will receive an additional 
reduction in its refund liability of $10,000, except where a lesser 
amount will extinguish its liability in its entirety.
    The Offer of Settlement, when approved, will eliminate 
substantially, if not entirely, the obligation of Consenting Working 
Interest Owners to pursue refund claims against their landowner royalty 
owners. This is accomplished through the 12.5% reduction in the total 
refund obligation otherwise owed by Consenting Working Interest Owners.
    An estimated 600 or more working interest owners received the 
benefit of CIG's reimbursement of the Kansas ad valorem taxes. Many of 
those parties have small refund obligations. The Settlement will 
eliminate entirely the refund obligations of those Consenting Working 
Interest Owners whose remaining refund obligation after the 12.5% 
reduction discussed above is $10,000 or less. It is estimated that 400-
450 working interest owners' refunds will be entirely eliminated under 
the Settlement.\2\ Further, every other Consenting Working Interest 
Owner whose refund obligation, after the 12.5% reduction, exceeds 
$10,000 will have that refund obligation reduced by $10,000 under the 
Settlement. Thus the Settlement will reduce the collection and 
administrative burdens on the parties and the Commission while 
expediting the recovery of the refunds.
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    \2\ The Sponsoring Parties assert that the number and identity 
of the working interest owners who will have their refund obligation 
eliminated by the Settlement cannot be determined at this time since 
the Commission had required that the well operators--the parties to 
whom CIG made the tax reimbursements in the first place--provide 
working interest ownership data to CIG. Since a very large number of 
well operators have not provided that information to CIG, CIG, PSCo 
and Colorado Springs also filed a Complaint against those well 
operators in Docket No. RP00-213-000.
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    In accordance with Section 385.602(f), initial comments on the 
Offer of Settlement are due on March 28, 2000 and any reply comments 
are due on April 7, 2000.

David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-7157 Filed 3-22-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M