On April 25, APGA submitted comments in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) request for stakeholder feedback on its two draft policy statements impacting the certification of new interstate natural gas facilities and the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation of such facilities.
Through its comments, APGA raised concerns that the draft policy statements, if implemented, would increase prices for consumers, making natural gas a less affordable energy option. Specifically, APGA argued that FERC’s proposal to require the mitigation of downstream emissions, including those from community-owned natural gas utilities, as a condition of certificates is clearly outside of its regulatory jurisdiction. Furthermore, APGA noted its concern over FERC’s proposal to consider a proposed project’s end uses when determining whether to issue a certificate.
FERC initially released an updated policy statement for the certification of interstate natural gas facilities and an interim policy statement for the mitigation of greenhouse gases in February; however, after a significant amount of backlash from the public and Congress over these policy statements, including their immediate effectiveness and the level of uncertainty that they introduced to infrastructure development, FERC revised its position in March and made both policy statements draft, requesting comment on both.
Response comments are due in a month. After that, FERC will review stakeholder feedback and then issue final policy statements for both certification and GHG emissions mitigation. The timeframe for these final policy statements is not known, but appears to be a priority for the FERC democratic majority.
A copy of the comments is available
here.
For questions on this article, please contact Renée Lani of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0836 or by email at rlani@apga.org.