II. Procedural
SoCalGas filed its application on January 26, 2004, and a scoping memo and ruling (scoping memo) was issued on May 26, 2004. During the course of this proceeding, the parties discussed among themselves the possibility of resolving this proceeding. (See June 30, 2005 ALJ Ruling, pp. 2-3.) The scoping memo originally scheduled the evidentiary hearings for August 2004.
On July 21, 2004, a joint motion to adopt a stipulation between SoCalGas, the Indicated Producers, California Independent Petroleum Association, and the Western States Petroleum Association was filed.1 A supplement to the joint motion was filed on August 20, 2004.
On August 13, 2004, SoCalGas requested that the evidentiary hearings be suspended indefinitely to allow the parties time to discuss whether the issues in the proceeding could be resolved. On August 16, 2004, the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) granted SoCalGas' request and took the evidentiary hearings off calendar. SoCalGas was to notify the ALJ of a new proposed procedural schedule following their discussions.
In order to timely resolve this proceeding within the 18-month deadline, as prescribed by Pub. Util. Code § 1701.5, an ALJ ruling was issued in this proceeding on June 30, 2005. The ruling noted that the July 21, 2004 joint motion to adopt the stipulation was still pending because of the parties' efforts to settle the issues in this proceeding, and the access issues in A.04-08-018. (See June 30, 2005 ALJ Ruling, p. 5.) The ruling solicited comments from the parties on the need for evidentiary hearings in this proceeding, and to propose a schedule for resolving the issues. Several parties filed comments and reply comments.
On July 25, 2005, SoCalGas filed a Settlement Agreement in this proceeding with the Office of Ratepayer Advocates,2 Southern California Generation Coalition (SCGC), and The Utility Reform Network (TURN). The ALJ ruling of August 9, 2005 allowed the parties to file comments on the proposed Settlement Agreement.
On September 7, 2005, a motion to adopt the "Revised Joint Stipulation" was filed by SoCalGas, the Indicated Producers, the California Independent Petroleum Association, the Western States Petroleum Association, and Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon Mobil). The Revised Joint Stipulation replaces the July 21, 2004 stipulation. The August 20, 2004 supplement to the July 21, 2004 stipulation is also considered to be part of the Revised Joint Stipulation. (See Reporter's Transcript (R.T.), September 19, 2005 prehearing conference (PHC), pp. 13-14.)
A PHC was noticed for September 19, 2005 to discuss whether evidentiary hearings should be held on the stipulation and the Settlement Agreement. (August 9, 2005 ALJ Ruling.) At that PHC, some of the parties expressed the need for evidentiary hearings, while others did not. It was decided to convene a telephone PHC on October 21, 2005.
A telephone PHC was held on October 21, 2005, to discuss the need for evidentiary hearings. In a November 2, 2005 ALJ ruling, the ALJ summarized the telephone PHC and scheduled evidentiary hearings for December 2005. Two days of evidentiary hearings were held in December 2005. This proceeding was submitted on January 27, 2006.
On March 9, 2006, Exxon Mobil filed a motion to re-open the evidentiary record in this proceeding and to admit as evidence in this proceeding the March 7, 2006 testimony of Catherine Yap in A.04-08-018. A response opposing the motion was filed by SCGC, and a reply to the response was filed by Exxon Mobil.
1 As part of the July 21, 2004 stipulation, SoCalGas agreed to file an application to address the terms and conditions of access to the SoCalGas system by California offshore and on-shore gas producers. SoCalGas filed Application (A.) 04-08-018 on August 16, 2004, and evidentiary hearings were held in that proceeding in December 2005.
2 The Office of Ratepayer Advocates is now the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA).
