Response of Seaway Crude Pipeline Company LLC to Requests for Summary Disposition under OR15-6.
02/23/2015UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BEFORE THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION Seaway Crude Pipeline Company LLC ) Docket No. OR15-6-000 RESPONSE OF SEAWAY CRUDE PIPELINE COMPANY LLC TO REQUESTS FOR SUMMARY DISPOSITION Pursuant to Rule 213 of the Commissions Rules of Practice and Procedure, 18 C.F.R. 385.213 (2014), Seaway Crude Pipeline Company LLC (Seaway) hereby responds to the requests for summary disposition filed by the protestants in this case.1 Protestants requests to summarily dismiss the application constitute motions for summary disposition pursuant to 18 C.F.R. 385.217. See Suncor Protest at 1-2 (seeking summary disposition pursuant to Rule 217); see also Liquids Shipper Group Protest at 1, 3, 28 (seeking summary dismissal); CAPP Protest at 1, 3, 27 (same); Airlines Protest at 3- 4, 67 (same). The Commissions rules permit answers to motions for summary disposition. See 18 C.F.R. 385.213(a)(3) and (d)(1). To the extent this pleading is otherwise deemed a pleading for which leave to file must be sought, Seaway respectfully 1 The protestants are (1) Suncor Energy Marketing Inc. and Phillips 66 Company (collectively, Suncor); (2) the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP); (3) Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Apache Corporation, ConocoPhillips Company, Marathon Oil Company and Noble Energy, Inc. (collectively, the Liquids Shipper Group); and (4) Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (Air Transport Association) and Valero Marketing and Supply Company (collectively, the Airlines). I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Seaway is a common carrier pipeline that transports crude oil from its origin at Cushing, Oklahoma to the following points at its U.S. Gulf Coast destination market: (1) Seaways Freeport, Texas terminal, (2) the Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (Enterprise) terminal near Katy, Texas, (3) the Phillips 66 refinery at Sweeny, Texas, (4) Enterprises ECHO crude oil storage facility in Houston, Texas, and (5) Nederland, Texas in the Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas area. Seaway is owned 50 percent by Enterprise and 50 percent by Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge). Statement I (Ordemann) at 2-3. Seaways owners previously filed a request in Docket No. OR12-4-000 for MBR authority in order to establish initial market-based rates when the pipeline began providing its current north-to-south transportation service in May 2012. On May 7, 2012, the Commission rejected the application and declined to grant a waiver of the Commissions rules to permit initial market-based rates. Enterprise Products Partners L.P., and Enbridge Inc., 139 FERC 61,099 (2012). The Commission subsequently granted rehearing in order to review its prior ruling in light of the D.C. Circuits decision in Mobil Pipe Line Co. v. FERC, 676 F.3d 1098 (D.C. Cir. 2012) (Mobil), which held that Mobil Pipe ...