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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 29 / Tuesday, February 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
allowance in their cost of service.18
Following United Airlines, in 2018, the Commission required natural gas pipelines to immediately eliminate that double recovery,19 but declined to require something similar for oil pipelines, promising, quite explicitly, that it would address the issue when it next updated the index.20
9. So much for that. In todays order, the Commission goes back on its word and allows any oil pipeline that was an MLP in 2014 to retroactively remove its income tax allowance from its 2014
cost-of-service data.21 That change juices the data to make it look like oil pipeline costs increased by more than they actually did between 2014 and 2019, thereby leading to a higher index value. And, as if that werent bad enough, todays order also allows any pipeline that transitioned from an MLP
to a C-Corporation, thereby regaining the right to an income tax allowance, to remove the income tax allowance from their 2014 numbers.22 The result is, you guessed it, another increase in the cost change data, a higher index level, and more expensive rates for customers.
10. Nothing in todays order justifies that result. The Commission summarily concludes that the index update is not an appropriate vehicle for incorporating the post-United Airlines policy changes.23 That proposition is hardly self-evident, especially given that all five then-Commissioners felt differently just two years ago.24 In any case, the fact of the matter is that tax costs are real costs,25 meaning that oil pipelines costs in the past five years have changed as a result of the United Airlines decision.
Finally, reneging on our promise in the 2018 Income Tax Policy Statement perpetuates the effects of the double recovery gravy train that the court 18 Id.

P 2.

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19 Interstate
& Intrastate Nat. Gas Pipelines; Rate Changes Relating to Fed. Income Tax Rate, 162
FERC 61,226 2018.
20 The Commissions statement is worth reading in whole: When oil pipelines file Form No. 6, page 700 on April 18, 2018, they must report an income tax allowance consistent with United Airlines and the Commissions subsequent holdings denying an MLP an income tax allowance. Based upon page 700 data, the Commission will incorporate the effects of the post-United Airlines policy changes as well as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on industry-wide oil pipeline costs in the 2020 fiveyear review of the oil pipeline index level. In this way the Commission will ensure that the industrywide reduced costs are incorporated on an industrywide basis as part of the index review. 2018
Income Tax Policy Statement, 162 FERC 61,227 at P 46.
21 2020 Index Review, 173 FERC 61,245 at P 16.
22 Id. P 20.
23 Id. P 18.
24 2018 Income Tax Policy Statement, 162 FERC
61,227 at P 46.
25 Ask anyone who pays their taxes.

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invalidated in United Airlines. That is simply indefensible.

11. The Commissions actions today hand oil pipelines what will amount to a multi-billion-dollar windfall over the next five years. Calling these decisions arbitrary and capricious or unreasoned would let the Commission off easy.
They represent a complete abdication of our statutory responsibility to protect consumersthe companies and individuals who will be stuck paying those additional billions of dollars to the oil pipelines. Although our responsibilities under the Interstate Commerce Act dont always get the same attention from the public as some of our other proceedings, todays order illustrates the tremendous financial consequences that they can have for everyday customers. I hope that proceedings like todays lead interested parties everywhere to more closely scrutinize the Commissions oil orders so that these multi-billion-dollar handouts do not become a matter of course.
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
Richard Glick, Commissioner.
FR Doc. 202103120 Filed 21221; 8:45 am BILLING CODE 671701P

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
Coast Guard 33 CFR Part 165
Docket No. USCG20210057
RIN 1625AA00

Emergency Safety Zone; Richmond Entrance Channel, Richmond, CA
Coast Guard, DHS.
Temporary final rule.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone in the navigable waters of the Richmond Entrance Channel off of Richmond, CA
in support of the safe navigation of vessels and environmental response efforts to address the hydrocarbon release from the Richmond Long Wharf on February 09, 2021. Based on this information, this safety zone is necessary to protect life, vessels, and the maritime environment. Unauthorized persons or vessels are prohibited from entering into, transiting through, or remaining in the safety zone without permission from the Captain of the Port
SUMMARY:

PO 00000

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San Francisco or a Captain of the Port San Francisco designated representative.
DATES: This rule is effective without actual notice on February 16, 2021. For the purposes of enforcement, actual notice will be used from 12:01 a.m.
February 10, 2021 until February 16, 2021.
ADDRESSES: To view documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket, go to https
www.regulations.gov, type USCG2021
0057 in the SEARCH box and click SEARCH. Click on Open Docket Folder on the line associated with this rule.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this rule, call or email Chief Warrant Officer Mickey Price, Waterways Management, U.S.
Coast Guard; telephone 415 3997442, email SFWaterways@uscg.mil.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Table of Abbreviations CFR Code of Federal Regulations COTP Captain of the Port San Francisco DHS Department of Homeland Security Section U.S.C. United States Code
II. Background Information and Regulatory History The Coast Guard is issuing this temporary rule without prior notice and opportunity to comment pursuant to authority under section 4a of the Administrative Procedure Act APA 5
U.S.C. 553b. This provision authorizes an agency to issue a rule without prior notice and opportunity to comment when the agency for good cause finds that those procedures are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. Under 5 U.S.C.
553bB, the Coast Guard finds that good cause exists for not publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking with respect to this rule because it is impracticable. The Coast Guard received notice of the hydrocarbon release into the waterway and the resulting need for this safety zone on February 9, 2021. It is impracticable to go through the full rulemaking process, including providing a reasonable comment period and considering those comments, because the Coast Guard must establish this emergency temporary safety zone by February 10, 2021.
Under 5 U.S.C. 553d3, the Coast Guard finds that good cause exists for making this rule effective less than 30
days after publication in the Federal Register. Delaying the effective date of this rule would be contrary to public interest because immediate action is
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