Northwest Central Pipeline Corp. v. State Corporation Comm'n of Kan.

In this appeal, we must decide whether a regulation adopted by the State Corporation Commission of Kansas (KCC) to govern the timing of production of natural gas from the Kansas-Hugoton field violates either the Supremacy or the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. We hold that it does not.

I

At issue is a KCC regulation providing for the permanent cancellation of producers’ entitlements to quantities of Kansas-Hugoton gas. Designed as a counterweight to market, contractual, and regulatory forces that have led interstate pipelines to cut back purchases from Kansas-Hugoton producers, the KCC’s…