NATURAL GAS THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1936 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in the committee rooms at 10 a. m., Hon. Clarence F. Lea presiding. Mr. LEA. The committee will be in order. We have met this morning for hearings on H. R. 11662, a bill to regulate the transportation and sale of natural gas in interstate com merce, and for other purposes. (The bill is as follows:) [H. R. 11662, 74th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To regulate the transportation and sale of natural gas in interstate commerce, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, NECESSITY FOR REGULATION OF NATURAL-GAS COMPANIES SECTION 1. (a) As disclosed in reports of the Federal Trade Commission made pursuant to S. Res. 83 (Seventieth Congress, first session) and other reports made pursuant to the authority of Congress, it is hereby declared that the business of transporting and selling natural gas for ultimate distribution to the public is affected with a public interest and that Federal regulation in matters relating to the transportation of natural gas and the sale thereof in interstate and foreign commerce is necessary in the public interest. (b) The provisions of this Act shall apply to the transportation of natural gas in high-pressure mains in interstate commerce and to natural-gas companies engaged in such transportation, but shall not apply to the distribution of natural gas moving locally in low-pressure mains or to the facilities used for such distribution or to the production of natural gas: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Commission to fix rates or charges for the sale of natural gas distributed locally in low-pressure mains or for the sale of natural gas for industrial use only. SEC. 2. When used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires(1) "Person" includes an individual or a corporation. (2) "Corporation" includes any corporation, joint-stock company, partnership, association, business trust, organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not, receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees of any of the foregoing, but shall not include municipalities as hereinafter defined. (3) "Municipality" means a city, county, or other political subdivision or agency of a State. (4) "State" means a State admitted to the Union, the District of Columbia, and any organized Territory of the United States. (5) "Natural-gas company" means a person engaged in the transportation of natural gas in high-pressure mains in interstate commerce. (6) "Interstate commerce" means commerce between any point in a State and any point outside thereof, or between points within the same State but through 1 any place outside thereof, but only insofar as such commerce takes place within the United States. (7) "State commission" means the regulatory body of the State or municipality having jurisdiction to regulate rates and charges for the sale of natural gas to consumers within the State or municipality. (8) "Commission" and "Commissioner" means the Federal Power Commission, and a member thereof, respectively. TRANSPORTATION TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY SEC. 3. After six months from the date on which this Act takes effect no person shall transport any natural gas from the United States to a foreign country without first having secured an order of the Commission authorizing it to do so. The Commission shall issue such order upon application, unless, after opportunity for hearing the facts, it finds that the proposed transportation would impair the sufficiency of the supply of natural gas within the United States. The Commission may by its order grant such application, in whole or in part, with such modification and upon such terms and conditions as the Commission may find necessary or appropriate, and may from time to time, after opportunity for hearing, and for good cause shown, make such supplemental order in the premises as it may find necessary or appropriate. RATES AND CHARGES: SCHEDULES; SUSPENSION OF NEW RATES SEC. 4. (a) All rates and charges made, demanded, or received by any naturalgas company for or in connection with the transportation or sale of natural gas subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, and all rules and regulations affecting or pertaining to such rates or charges shall be just and reasonable, and any such rate or charge that is not just and reasonable is hereby declared to be unlawful. (b) No natural-gas company shall, with respect to any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of natural gas in high-pressure mains in interstate commerce subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, (1) make or grant any undue preference or advantage to any person or subject any person to any undue prejudice or disadvantage, or (2) maintain any unreasonable difference in rates, charges, service, facilities, or in any other respect, either as between localities or as between classes of service. (c) Under such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe, every natural-gas company shall file with the Commission, within such time and in such form as the Commission may designate, and shall keep open in convenient form and place for public inspection schedules showing all rates and charges for any transportation or sale subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission and the classifications, practices, and regulations affecting such rates and charges, together with all contracts which in any manner affect or relate to such rates, charges, classifications, and services. (d) Unless the Commission otherwise orders, no change shall be made by any natural-gas company in any such rate, charge, classification, or service, or in any rule, regulation, or contract relating thereto, except after thirty days' notice to the Commission and to the public. Such notice shall be given by filing with the Commission and keeping open for public inspection new schedules stating plainly the change or changes to be made in the schedule or schedules then in force and the time when the change or changes will go into effect. The Commission, for good cause shown, may allow changes to take effect without requiring the thirty days' notice herein provided for by an order specifying the changes so to be made and the time when they shall take effect and the manner in which they shall be filed and published. (e) Whenever any such new schedule is filed the Commission shall have authority, either upon complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, at once, and if it so orders, without answer or formal pleading by the natural-gas company, but upon reasonable notice, to enter upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness of such rate, charge, classification, or service; and, pending such hearing and the decision thereon, the Commission, upon filing with such schedules and delivering to the natural-gas company affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for such suspension, may suspend the operation of such schedule and defer the use of such rate, charge, classification, or service, but not for a longer period than five months beyond the time when it would otherwise go into |