18 CFR 284.281 - Applicability.

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) amends its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest version (Version 2.0) of certain business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. In addition, based on the minor corrections and errata made by NAESB and reported to the Commission on May 4, 2012, the Commission will incorporate by reference certain standards that it earlier proposed not to incorporate, as the revised standards no longer conflict with Commission regulations. In this Final Rule, the Commission also provides guidance on the criteria the Commission will use in deciding whether to grant or deny requests for waivers or extensions of time and modifies the compliance filing requirements to add transparency as to where in the tariff incorporated standards may be found.

On February 22, 2012, the Commission published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (77 FR 10415) (NOPR) proposing to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest version (Version 2.0) of business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. The Commission, however, did not propose to adopt two standards it found inconsistent with its regulations. Among the comments filed with the Commission were comments from NAESB explaining that its Wholesale Gas Quadrant Executive Committee was in the process of voting on two standards to rectify the inconsistency noted in the NOPR by the Commission. On May 4, 2012, NAESB filed a status report informing the Commission that it had finalized the two corrections. The Commission is providing interested parties an opportunity to file comments with respect to the two corrected standards adopted by NAESB and whether the Commission should incorporate these revised standards into its regulations.