Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY <SUBAGY>Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</SUBAGY> <CFR>18 CFR Part 284</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. RM96-1-044]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference certain modifications to the latest version (Version 4.0) of Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). NAESB's revisions in Version 4.0 of the standards streamline the process for accessing publicly available gas-electric coordination data during extreme cold weather or emergency events. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments are due January 20, 2026. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Comments, identified by docket number, may be filed in the following ways. Electronic filing through <E T="03">https://www.ferc.gov,</E> is preferred. • <E T="03">Electronic Filing:</E> Documents must be filed in acceptable native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture format. • For those unable to file electronically, comments may be filed by U.S. Postal Service mail or by hand (including courier) delivery. ○ <E T="03">Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only:</E> Addressed to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. ○ <E T="03">Hand (including courier) delivery:</E> Deliver to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852. The Comment Procedures Section of this document contains more detailed filing procedures. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Jerry Chiang (Technical Issues), Office of Technical Reporting and Economics, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8786, <E T="03">jerry.chiang@ferc.gov</E> . Oscar F. Santillana (Technical Issues), Office of Energy Market Regulation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6392, <E T="03">oscar.santillana@ferc.gov</E> . David Faerberg (Legal Issues), Office of the General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8275, <E T="03">david.faerberg@ferc.gov</E> . </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L0,tp0,g1,t1,i1" CDEF="s200,10"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1"> </CHED> <CHED H="1"> Paragraph Nos. </CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">I. Overview </ENT> <ENT>1</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">II. Background </ENT> <ENT>3</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">III. Discussion </ENT> <ENT>9</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">A. Modifications to Version 4.0 of Business Practice Standards </ENT> <ENT>11</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">1. WGQ Additional Standards </ENT> <ENT>12</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">2. WGQ Quadrant Electronic Delivery Mechanism Standards </ENT> <ENT>13</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">3. WGQ Capacity Release Related Standards </ENT> <ENT>14</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">B. Proposed Implementation Procedures </ENT> <ENT>15</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IV. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards </ENT> <ENT>23</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">V. Incorporation by Reference </ENT> <ENT>24</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">VI. Information Collection Statement </ENT> <ENT>31</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">VII. Environmental Analysis </ENT> <ENT>38</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act </ENT> <ENT>39</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IX. Comment Procedures </ENT> <ENT>42</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">X. Document Availability </ENT> <ENT>45</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Overview</HD> 1. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend its regulations at 18 CFR 284.12 to incorporate by reference the latest modifications to Version 4.0 of Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to interstate natural gas pipelines. The incorporation by reference of these standards into the Commission's regulations would improve the coordination between the natural gas pipelines and electric utilities. Such coordination is essential to maintaining reliability for both the natural gas pipeline network system and the bulk electric system, especially during periods when both systems have coincident peak requirements. 2. NAESB is an American National Standards Institute-accredited, non-profit standards development organization formed for the purpose of developing voluntary standards and model business practices that promote more competitive and efficient natural gas and electric markets. On December 4, 2024, NAESB filed a report informing the Commission that it had modified Version 4.0 of the business practice standards (Informational Report). <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> These revisions to the standards would improve the reliability of the interstate natural gas infrastructure to support the bulk electric system and improve communication among gas and electric market participants to enhance situational awareness during extreme cold weather events. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> NAESB WGQ Business Practice Standards Version 4.0 Report, Docket No. RM96-1-044 (Dec. 4, 2024). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  As explained below, NAESB has adopted two new standards and revisions to one existing standard in response to Recommendation 5 of the report that the staffs of the Commission, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and Regional Entities issued November 7, 2023: FERC et al., <E T="03">FERC,</E> NERC & Reg'l Entity Staff Rep.: Inquiry into Bulk-Power Sys. Operations During Dec. 2022 Winter Storm Elliott, Docket No. AD23-8-000, at 143 (Nov. 7, 2023) (Recommendation 5), <E T="03">https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=00F8FAAC-A049-C84B-8784-8BB5FEC00000</E> (as updated Feb. 28. 2024, <E T="03">https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=BB92A244-97DD-C8A7-96AC-8D897D600000</E> ) [hereinafter Winter Storm Elliot Report]. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Background</HD> 3. Since 1996, the Commission has incorporated by reference in its regulations NAESB's business practice standards and communication methodologies of interstate natural gas pipelines to create a more integrated and efficient pipeline network system. These regulations have been promulgated in the Order No. 587 series of orders, <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> wherein the Commission has incorporated by reference the standards for interstate natural gas pipeline business practices and electronic communications developed by NAESB's WGQ. Upon incorporation by reference, these revisions to the standards will modify the currently incorporated version (Version 4.0) of NAESB's business practice standards. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  This series of orders began with the Commission's issuance of Order No. 587, <E T="03">Standards for Bus. Pracs. of Interstate Nat. Gas Pipelines,</E> 61 FR 39053 (July 26, 1996), FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,038 (1996) (cross-referenced at 76 FERC ¶ 61,042). </FTNT> 4. On July 25, 2022, then-Chairman Richard Glick of the Commission and Jim Robb, President and CEO of the NERC, sent a letter to NAESB requesting NAESB convene a forum “to identify actions that will improve the reliability of the natural gas infrastructure system as necessary to support the bulk electric system and to address recurring challenges stemming from natural gas-electric infrastructure interdependency.”  <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  Letter from then-Chairman Richard Glick of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Jim Robb, President and CEO of the North American Reliability Corporation to Michael Desselle, Chairman of NAESB, and Jonathan Booe, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (July 25, 2022) (on file at NAESB), <E T="03">https://naesb.org/pdf4/FERC_NERC_Letter_072922_to_NAESB.pdf. See also,</E> FERC, NERC, and Regional Entity Staff Report, <E T="03">The February 2021 Cold Weather Outage in Texas and the South Central United States</E> (Nov. 2021) (Recommendation 7), <E T="03">https://www.ferc.gov/media/february-2021-cold-weather-outages-texas-and-south-central-united-states-ferc-nerc-and.</E> </FTNT> 5. In response to that letter, NAESB convened a Gas-Electric Harmonization Forum to consider issues related to the challenges stemming from natural gas-electric interdependency. Over 700 individuals representing more than 370 different organizations from all segments of the natural gas and electric markets participated in the Gas-Electric Harmonization Forum. NAESB released its Gas-Electric Harmonization Forum Report on July 28, 2023, which identified 20 recommendations for consideration to improve the reliability of natural gas infrastructure as necessary to support the bulk electric system and to address the recurring challenges stemming from natural gas-electric interdependency. 6. On November 7, 2023, as updated on February 28, 2024, the Commission, NERC, and various regional entities published a report on the performance of the bulk power system during Winter Storm Elliot in December of 2022. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> The report looked at the cold weather event that occurred between Decem ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 52k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━