Order on Clarification and Rehearing

This order responds to four requests for clarification or, in the alternative, rehearing of the interim rule which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued on January 9, 2007. The Commission issued the interim rule in response to the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacating and remanding the standards of conduct rule, Order No. 2004, as applicable to interstate natural gas pipelines, in National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation v. FERC, 468 F.3d 831 (D.C. Cir. 2006). In this order, the Commission grants clarification that the standards of conduct for natural gas transmission providers under the interim rule apply only to natural gas transmission providers that are affiliated with a marketing or brokering entity that conducts transportation transactions on such natural gas transmission provider's pipeline. The Commission also grants clarification that the definition for a marketing or brokering entity for a natural gas transmission provider is identical to the definition under the pre-Order No. 2004 standards of conduct. With regards to the other issues for which clarification or rehearing is sought, the Commission will defer consideration of these matters in this proceeding and address them contemporaneously with the rulemaking proceeding in Docket No. RM07-1- 000.