Stories told on the job and I had/have no confirmation, went like this:
The contract with the Canadians, stated that PGT could not sell that gas to any company or business that operated a business that was in direct competion with any Canadian businesses.
Another story, Once completed, the new line would be strictly a gas storage facility since the demand for natural gas at the time was not an issue.
Again, don't know if there was any truth to those stories, but that's what the scuttlebutt said at the time.
I remember that pipeline installation like it was yesterday. I lived in Denver at the time and all the work I did was around the Rocky Mountain area basins.
When that line started selling gas in California, it was the first line to take previously flared gas from Canadian wells. It was sold to CA utilities at a purposely deflated price to monopolize market share (and pay back Canadian Producers).
The net result devastated the Denver O&G business, Denver economy in general, not to mention the Rocky Mountain region as a whole. I know more people that got out of the business then, than I now know remaining in the business. It took years for that area to recover and it was the single driving force that resulted in me moving my family to N. Michigan. Things have since changed radically, but I'll never forgive the Canadian group the effected that economic damage. It is also part of CA energy problem. They had special treatment for a while and got used to it.