Commissioner James Danly Statement
January 31, 2023
Docket No. RP19-73-006
I agree with the Commission’s decision to approve El Paso Natural Gas Company, L.L.C.’s Offer of Settlement (Settlement).[1] As I stated in my separate statement in Kinetica Deepwater Express, LLC, I suggest to anyone participating in the natural gas industry that it might be prudent to be clearer in your settlement agreements as to whether you are actually a party to that agreement.[2] Though I understand that the use of an attachment listing parties supporting or not opposing a settlement is common in the industry,[3] situations will almost certainly arise in which an entity’s status as party or non-party to a settlement will be dispositive. This will be even more important should the issue be presented to a body less indifferent to fundamentals of contract law than this Commission.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
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James P. Danly
Commissioner
[1] El Paso Nat. Gas Co., L.L.C., 182 FERC ¶ 61,045 (2023).
[2] Kinetica Deepwater Express, LLC, 175 FERC ¶ 61,048 (2021) (Danly, Comm’r, concurring in part and dissenting in part at P 10 n.12).
[3] See Settlement at Art. 3.1 (defining “Settling Party” as “mean[ing] (a) any party identified in Appendix A; or (b) any party, as that term is defined in 18 C.F.R. § 385.102(c), and any shipper not identified in Appendix A that (i) expressly supports, or (ii) does not oppose the [Stipulation and Agreement] as a whole and/or any of its underlying provisions.”); id. App. A (listing parties that “either support or do not oppose the Offer of Settlement including the [Stipulation and Agreement]”).