Commissioner James Danly Statement
September 6, 2023
Docket Nos. RP22-1072-004, RP22-1072-000
I agree with the Commission’s decision to approve Tuscarora Gas Transmission Company’s Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement (Settlement).[1] As I said 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.
[1] See Tuscarora Gas Transmission Co., 184 FERC ¶ 61,143 (2023).
[2] Kinetica Deepwater Express, LLC, 175 FERC ¶ 61,048 (2021) (Danly, Comm’r, concurring in part & dissenting in part at P 10 n.12).
[3] See Settlement at App. A (listing “entities” that “either support or do not oppose the . . . Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement” as “Settling Parties”).