Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                         CHAPTER 9-S.F.No. 258 
           An act relating to utilities; regulating certain 
          intrastate gas pipelines; proposing coding for new law 
          in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 216B.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  [216B.045] [REGULATION OF INTRASTATE NATURAL 
GAS PIPELINES.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITION.] For the purposes of this 
section "intrastate pipeline" means a pipeline wholly within the 
state of Minnesota which transports or delivers natural gas 
received from another person at a point inside or at the border 
of the state, which is delivered at a point within the state to 
another, provided that all the natural gas is consumed within 
the state.  An intrastate pipeline does not include a pipeline 
owned or operated by a public utility.  
    Subd. 2.  [REASONABLE RATE.] Every rate and contract 
relating to the sale or transportation of natural gas through an 
intrastate pipeline shall be just and reasonable.  No owner or 
operator of an intrastate pipeline shall provide intrastate 
pipeline services in a manner which unreasonably discriminates 
among customers receiving like or contemporaneous services.  
    Subd. 3.  [TRANSPORTATION RATES; DISCRIMINATION.] Every 
owner or operator of an intrastate pipeline shall offer 
intrastate pipeline transportation services by contract on an 
open access, nondiscriminatory basis.  To the extent the 
intrastate pipeline has available capacity, the owner or 
operator of the intrastate pipeline must provide firm and 
interruptible transportation on behalf of any customer.  If 
physical facilities are needed to establish service to a 
customer, the customer may provide those facilities or the owner 
or operator of the intrastate pipeline may provide the 
facilities for a reasonable and compensatory charge. 
    Subd. 4.  [CONTRACTS; COMMISSION APPROVAL.] No contract 
establishing the rates, terms, and conditions of service and 
facilities to be provided by intrastate pipelines is effective 
until it is filed with and approved by the commission.  The 
commission has the authority to approve the contracts and to 
regulate the types and quality of services to be provided 
through intrastate pipelines.  The approval of a contract for an 
intrastate pipeline to provide service to a public utility does 
not constitute a determination by the commission that the prices 
actually paid by the public utility under that contract are 
reasonable or prudent, nor does approval constitute a 
determination that purchases of gas made or deliveries of gas 
taken by the public utility under that contract are reasonable 
or prudent. 
    Subd. 5.  [COMPLAINTS.] Any customer of an intrastate 
pipeline, any person seeking to become a customer of an 
intrastate pipeline, the department, or the commission on its 
own motion, may bring a complaint regarding the rates, 
contracts, terms, conditions, and types of service provided or 
proposed to be provided through an intrastate pipeline, 
including a complaint that a service which can reasonably be 
demanded is not offered by the owner or operator of the 
intrastate pipeline.  If a complaint involves the question of 
whether or not an intrastate pipeline has capacity available, 
the commission shall after hearing make a determination of the 
available capacity but shall not impair the owner or operator of 
the intrastate pipeline contractual obligation to provide firm 
transportation service.  If a complaint concerns the use of 
available capacity by one or more customers of an intrastate 
pipeline, the commission shall after hearing determine the 
reasonable use of the available capacity by the customers.  The 
commission shall not require an owner or operator of an 
intrastate pipeline to expand its available capacity, but may 
require the owner or operator to maintain a reasonable quality 
of service.  The commission may dismiss any complaint without a 
hearing if in its opinion a hearing is not in the public 
interest.  Complaints brought under this subdivision shall be 
governed by section 216B.17, subdivisions 2 to 7.  
    Subd. 6.  [RECORDS; ASSESSMENT.] Sections 216B.10, 
subdivisions 1 and 4, 216B.12, 216B.13, and 216B.62, 
subdivisions 2, 4, and 6 shall apply to owners and operators of 
intrastate pipelines.  
    Subd. 7.  [NATURAL GAS EMERGENCY.] The commission may 
declare a natural gas supply emergency if it finds that a severe 
natural gas shortage endangering the health or safety of the 
citizens of the state exists or is imminent in the state.  If 
the commission declares that a natural gas supply emergency 
exists, it may for the duration of the emergency order the 
suspension of any contract providing for the sale and 
transportation of natural gas through an intrastate pipeline, 
and may for the duration of the emergency order an owner or 
operator of the intrastate pipeline to furnish such 
transportation services as are required by the public interest. 
The owner or operator of the intrastate pipeline shall be 
compensated for its services furnished under an emergency order 
issued under this section, and the commission shall determine 
the just and reasonable compensation for the services required 
to be provided during the emergency.  
    Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment. 
    Approved March 25, 1987