66-1852 Extension of natural gas mains or other services; limitations.
66-1852. Extension of natural gas mains or other services; limitations.(1) Except as otherwise expressly authorized in the State Natural Gas Regulation Act, no person, public or private, shall extend duplicative or redundant natural gas mains or other natural gas services into any area which has existing natural gas utility infrastructure or where a contract has been entered into for the placement of natural gas utility infrastructure.(2) The prohibition in subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in any area in which two or more jurisdictional utilities share authority to provide natural gas within the same territory under franchises issued by the same city.(3) The prohibition in subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the extension by a jurisdictional utility of a transmission line connecting to distribution facilities owned or operated by a jurisdictional utility, a city, or a metropolitan utilities district or to serve city-owned electric generating facilities located within the boundaries of a city within which the jurisdictional utility extending the transmission line provides natural gas service to customers.(4)(a) The prohibition in subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the extension by a metropolitan utilities district of a transmission line connecting to distribution facilities owned or operated by such metropolitan utilities district.(b) The extension by a metropolitan utilities district of a transmission line connecting to distribution facilities owned or operated by such metropolitan utilities district shall not constitute an enlargement or expansion of its natural gas service area and shall not be considered part of its natural gas service area.(c) The extension of a transmission line by a jurisdictional utility as provided in subsection (3) of this section shall not constitute an enlargement or expansion of the jurisdictional utility's natural gas service area and shall not be considered part of its natural gas service area if the transmission line makes its connection to distribution facilities in a county in which the natural gas service area or a portion of the natural gas service area of a metropolitan utilities district is located.(5) The prohibition in subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the extension by a city that owns or operates a natural gas utility of a transmission line that connects to its own distribution facilities.(6) For purposes of this section, a transmission line means a pipeline, other than a gathering pipeline, distribution pipeline, or service line, that transports natural gas.(7) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize a jurisdictional utility to extend a transmission line to a high-volume ratepayer with an existing source and adequate supply of natural gas that is located outside the area in which that jurisdictional utility has existing natural gas utility infrastructure. SourceLaws 2003, LB 790, § 52; Laws 2006, LB 1249, § 4; Laws 2008, LB1072, § 2.Effective Date: April 18, 2008