Initial ALJ Decision in Transwestern Case Delayed 
FERC Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner Jr. has extended by two weeks the deadline for an initial decision in the case in which Transwestern Pipeline is alleged to have arranged more lucrative negotiated-rate deals last winter prior to posting available firm transportation capacity to its web site -- a move that extracted higher rates and limited the capacity availability for recourse-rate shippers for service to California. 
Due to "scheduling conflicts," Wagner pushed back the deadline for president ALJ Jacob Leventhal to issue a decision to Oct. 30 from Oct. 15. 
FERC ordered the hearing in late July to determine whether Transwestern exercised market power in arranging negotiated-rate contracts for capacity that led to some shippers being charged up to $27/MMBtu in February, which the Commission estimated was "70 times the recourse rate."