Good fences make good neighbors – but the boundaries between federal and state regulation of energy markets have begun to blur. In ONEOK v. Learjet, decided yesterday with little fanfare, the Court held that field preemption under the Natural Gas Act (NGA) does not extend to state antitrust suits aimed at pipelines’ price manipulation.
At Monday’s oral arguments in ONEOK, Inc. v. Learjet, the Justices appeared to be divided in their questioning regarding the Natural Gas Act split of jurisdiction between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the states.
On January 12, 2015, the Supreme Court will hold one hour of oral argument on whether the Natural Gas Act preempts state-law claims challenging industry practices that directly affect the wholesale natural gas market when those claims are asserted by litigants who purchased gas in retail transactions.