We reported previously on the petition filed by Laser Marcellus Gathering Company, LLC, for a declaratory order that pipeline facilities it intends to construct from Pennsylvania into New York are functionally gathering and therefore exempt from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction under Section 1(b) of the Natural Gas Act. The Commission recently granted that petition, noting that the fact that the facilities crossed the Pennsylvania-New York border did not affect the exemption:
The history of Commission and court interpretation of Section 1(b), … makes clear that there is a distinction between gathering and transportation, such that the two functions are mutually exclusive. Consequently, otherwise non-jurisdictional production or gathering does not become jurisdictional on the basis that the facilities employed therefor cross a state line.
For a copy of the Commission's decision, see here (search Docket No. CP10-35).