At the Trump administration’s request, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency, abandoned its plan Sept. 12 to update the policy it uses to evaluate natural gas pipeline and LNG projects.
The decision to scrap the long-running proceeding to revise the 1999 certificate policy for new natural gas facilities could indicate that the Department of Energy (DOE) intends to take a larger role in FERC policy, law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP said in a recent blog post.
While FERC’s adoption of the request to end the proceedings will not result in any immediate changes to FERC policy, Akins said “it does signal that the DOE intends to be more involved in FERC policy making going forward and may be the first in a string of DOE efforts to reshape energy policy within FERC’s traditional purview.”
FERC had until the end of September to act on a directive from Energy Secretary Chris Wright to terminate the proceeding that the commission has worked on since 2018. Wright said the move was necessary to remove industry uncertainty.
“We believe that the 1999 Certificate Policy Statement, as subsequently applied by the Commission, continues to provide the appropriate framework for reviewing proposed natural gas projects in a legally durable manner, pursuant to the Natural Gas Act and consistent with judicial precedent, as it has for over 25 years. Therefore, we are now withdrawing the draft Updated Certificate Policy Statement and closing the proceeding,” FERC wrote in the Sep. 12 order.
The commission added that the topics addressed in the proceeding were “better considered on a case-by-case basis.”
By terminating the proceeding, FERC would now have to initiate a new docket and develop a new record if it wants to seek a policy change in the future, Akins said.
FERC started the proceeding to determine whether and how it should update the 1999 natural gas certificate policy in April 2018. After 4 years of comments and review, it released a draft policy statement in March 2022 that would require FERC to consider the impact of gas infrastructure projects on greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice communities prior to approving a natural gas project.
New Chairman David Rosner, when asked about the proceeding termination and the impacts in a press conference after FERC’s Sep. 18 meeting, said he did not expect a shift. “We speak through our orders,” he said, noting that all certificates FERC granted in the past year were bipartisan and nearly all unanimous. “I expect that to continue.”
President Trump elevated Rosner, a Democrat, to fill the role of chairman after he asked former Chairman Mark Christie, a Republican, to step down.
One of Trump’s two Republican nominations to fill the remaining FERC seats, Laura Swett and David LaCerte, will likely take over the chairman’s role. Both are awaiting Senate confirmation.
Rosner, a commissioner since 2024, said his priorities remained the same as when he was a commissioner: “working hard with my colleagues to make decisions swiftly, fairly and independently.” He said grid reliability was the top issue and that he was “excited” about infrastructure. “I think we need to build, build, build. America needs every electron and every molecule of every type [of energy] we can get, and we need more infrastructure to move it.”
FERC will continue to develop “accurate, clear, stable market price signals to get new infrastructure built in places where it’s needed,” Rosner said.
Rosner added that he was committed to acting on FERC’s oil pipeline index before it expires in 2025, although he could not provide a time estimate.
FERC’s pipeline rate index policy sets a five-year index level for calculating the annual rate increases allowed for interstate oil and liquid pipelines. This inflation-adjusted index also considers industry costs.
