Page:Department of Public Utilities v. Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co.pdf/8

 systems. It is the sale of this 8,730,616,000 cubic feet of gas which the respondent contends is not subject to regulation by the state of Arkansas because of the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution."

The findings of the department were followed by an order that a schedule of rates, inclusive of those charged customers whose service formed the basis of controversy, be filed; whereupon the respondent filed in the Pulaski circuit court a petition for review. The ruling of the department was reversed. This appeal is from the action of the circuit court in so ruling.

Appellee, in its brief, says that there is little, if any, dispute as to the physical facts, the only variance being as to inferences to be drawn from them. Appellee calls attention to the fact that the production properties and the pipe line system through which gas is transported from Louisiana and delivered into Arkansas were in 1928 acquired by Bethany Oil & Gas Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Delaware in 1920; that its charter gave it the right to produce, buy, and acquire natural gas, and only under special contracts, to be entered into for that purpose, to sell such gas to such selected industries and public utilities as the corporation might from time to time elect, but not to itself become a public utility or engage in the business of supplying gas to the public generally. In 1928 the company filed its charter in Arkansas and secured permission to do business in this state. The corporate name was changed to Arkansas Louisiana Pipe Line Company. This company was never granted a franchise to function as a public utility, or to sell gas to the inhabitants of any city or district, and its main office was at Shreveport, Louisiana.

The system consisted of large transmission pipe lines and compressor stations which transported gas from the Louisiana and Texas fields into Arkansas, substantially as set out in appellant's finding of facts. Appellee says that such gas was transported by means of natural pressure from the Texas and Louisiana wells, supplemented by compressor stations, and that it was