§720a Issuance of Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

Summary

The Commission can approve certificates that let companies build and run Alaska natural gas pipeline projects other than the specific Alaska system covered by the 1976 Act. The Commission must issue a certificate if the applicant meets the legal requirements of section 7(e) of the Natural Gas Act. When deciding, the Commission must assume there is a public need for the project and that there will be enough downstream capacity to move the gas to markets in the contiguous United States. The Commission must act fast after environmental review: within 60 days after the final environmental impact statement under section 720b, it must grant or deny the certificate. No federal approval may be given for any pipeline that goes under the Beaufort Sea or its shoreline and then enters Canada north of 68 degrees north latitude. Within 120 days after October 13, 2004, the Commission had to set rules for open seasons (how pipeline capacity is offered and allocated). Those rules must set timing and criteria, encourage competition in exploring and producing Alaska gas, and, for capacity beyond the initial amount, allow gas from sources other than Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson. Applications for additional U.S. pipeline facilities to carry Alaska gas from Canada follow the Natural Gas Act, and older Alaska Act rules keep applying to parts built under that 1976 law. A certificate holder must show it studied Alaska in‑state needs and possible tie‑in points. On the State’s request and after a hearing, the Commission may allow the State to move its royalty gas on the project for local use, but doing so cannot raise the rates of shippers with subscribed capacity as of the access date. The Commission may make whatever rules are needed to carry out these rules.