U.S. gas pipeline group asks FERC to clarify rules. (Washington, D.C.).(Interstate Natural Gas...

The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America is urging federal energy regulators to clarify rules on withholding gas supplies from the market if operators feel a pipeline is unsafe.

The association said it feared violating capacity regulations after a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission judge ruled that El Paso Corp. illegally withheld gas supplies during California's 2000-2001 energy crisis. The judge found that the pipelines operated at just 79 percent capacity between November 2000 and March 2001, and that those actions cos