ILTA and LEPA Joint Amicus Brief in Support of Rosefield on the matter of LPSC Oversight of Terminals

Pursuant to the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, the International Liquid Terminals Association ("ILTA") and the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association ("LEPA"), appearing as Amici Curiae, respectfully submit the Amicus Brief in Support of Rosefield Fourchon Operating, LLC's Appeal.

Background

The Pending Appeal arises out of a ruling of the Louisiana Public Services Commission ("LPSC") declaring a small, contained petroleum terminal owned by Rosefield Fourchoun Operating, LLC ("Rosefield") to be a "common carrier pipeline."

Standalone terminals like Rosefield - though not pipelines themselves - serve as an important function to provide storage and staging before (or after) transportation of crude oil. Like any other business that stores or processes liquids of any kind, Rosefield thus uses piping (enclosed tubes) to receive customer oil deposits into storage and to later direct the stored oil to the access point for the transport pipeline. See, e.g. CRF000610, CRF000392, CRF000268; CRF000281.

In this case, the LPSC concluded that the mere use of piping in such a way within the confines of a terminal facility transforms a standalone terminal like Rosefield into a "common carrier pipeline" as though it were in the same category as the transport pipelines that actually move the petroleum across the state. The question in this appeal is whether the determination by the LPSC was legally correct. It was not. The amicus urge this Court to reverse.