Release of Firm Capacity on Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is amending its capacity release regulations to make the capacity release mechanism operate more efficiently and reduce burden. The existing regulations establish the provisions under which shippers can release capacity without having to comply with the Commission's advance posting and bidding requirements. The Commission is extending the exception from posting and bidding to one full calendar month as well as exempting transactions at the maximum rate from the posting and bidding requirements. The revisions also change the provision regarding roll- overs of exempted releases by changing the period in which shippers cannot re-release capacity to the same shipper from 30 days to 28 days.