ABSTRACT
The 1938 Natural Gas Act granted the Federal Power Commission (FPC) power to regulate interstate sales of natural gas for resale. Most local distribution of natural gas is an intrastate activity and falls under the jurisdiction of state public utility commissions. The rate at which natural gas reserve additions can become available in the future is critically dependent on the size of the economically recoverable undiscovered natural gas resource base. Resource considerations should have a central role in shaping national gas policy. At prices equal to or less than oil fuel equivalents, the potential demand for gas is extremely large and can be estimated roughly by the shortfall in domestic energy production, which in turn is measured by oil imports. Estimating the demand elasticity for gas is a complex problem that is nevertheless central to a determination of the efficacy of price as a conservation tool. The FPC implements curtailments of interstate pipeline sales to local gas distribution systems.
