Exxon Corporation,petitioners v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., Intervenors

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge STEPHEN F. WILLIAMS.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.

STEPHEN F. WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge:

This case arises out of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s “unbun-dling” of interstate gas pipelines’ sales and transportation service. As part of that unbundling, parties with firm rights to buy natural gas in the downstream areas served by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation (“Transco”) were given the right to convert their gas purchase entitlements into transportation service rights. They evidently all did so, and are known as…