FERC amends rule related to rehearings for natural gas projects
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) amended its regulations to ensure that a natural gas construction project cannot proceed until the commission acts on a request for rehearing.
In September 2019, FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee pledged that FERC would strive to act on landowner-related gas project rehearing requests within 30 days. Then, in February 2020, Chatterjee announced the creation of a new Rehearing section within FERC’s Office of the General Counsel to help ensure that rehearing requests are considered as quickly as possible.
Chatterjee said the new rule builds on those previous efforts and reinforces FERC’s commitment to transparency and improve procedural protections for landowners.
“The commission has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve affected landowners’ access to a fair and transparent process, and today’s effort is another important step forward,” Chatterjee said. “These are complex issues, with a diverse array of stakeholder input, but I remain firmly committed to doing what we can to make the FERC process as fair, open, and transparent as possible for all those affected while the Commission thoroughly considers all issues.”
FERC considers applications for natural gas pipeline and liquefied natural gas projects. These proceedings have seen increased interest and participation by an array of stakeholders, including landowners, in recent years. The commission’s process includes provisions for rehearing, but the often-complex proceedings sometimes require more than 30 days. In such instances, the commission issues tolling orders that grant additional time to consider the requests and resolve these intricate matters. This rule states that even if a project has all other certifications and permissions to begin construction, it must wait until the commission either acts on the rehearing request or the 30-day time limit passes with no requests for rehearing.
This rule takes effect within 30 days of publication in the Federal Register.
