2017-05204. Pioneer Transmission, LLC: Notice of Petition for Declaratory Order

Take notice that on March 8, 2017, pursuant to Rule 207 of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (Commission) Rules of Practice and Procedure, 18 CFR 385.207(2016), Pioneer Transmission, LLC (Pioneer) filed a petition seeking a declaratory order from the Commission finding that the payment by Pioneer of dividends to its parent companies, out of paid-in capital and retained earnings, will not violate Section 305(a) of the Federal Power Act,^[1] all as more fully explained in the petition.

Any person desiring to intervene or to protest in this proceeding must file in accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211 and 385.214) on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on the specified comment date. Protests will be considered by the Commission in determining the appropriate action to be taken, but will not serve to make protestants parties to the proceeding. Any person wishing to become a party must file a notice of intervention or motion to intervene, as appropriate. Such notices, motions, or protests must be filed on or before the comment date. Anyone filing a motion to intervene or protest must serve a copy of that document on the Petitioner.

The Commission encourages electronic submission of protests and interventions in lieu of paper, using the FERC Online links at http://www.ferc.gov. To facilitate electronic service, persons with Internet access who will eFile a document and/or be listed as a contact for an intervenor must create and validate an eRegistration account using the eRegistration link. Select the eFiling link to log on and submit the intervention or protests.

Persons unable to file electronically should submit an original and 5 copies of the intervention or protest to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426.

The filings in the above proceeding are accessible in the Commission's eLibrary system by clicking on the appropriate link in the above list. They are also available for review in the Commission's Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. There is an eSubscription link on the Web site that enables subscribers to receive email notification when a document is added to a subscribed docket(s). For assistance with any FERC Online service, please email [e-mail] call [phone] (toll free). For TTY, call [phone].

Comment Date: 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on March 29, 2017.

Dated: March 8, 2017.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  It is not clear that under the language of FPA Section 305(a) a public utility is required to submit a petition for declaratory order seeking the Commission's approval under Section 305(a) in order to make dividends to its parent companies out of paid-in capital and retained earnings. Pioneer is submitting this petition for the purpose of obtaining the Commission's assurance that Pioneer's proposal to make dividends to its parent companies will not violate Section 305(a).