FERC Chairman: Court erred in tossing FERC OK of Transco’s Regional Access project

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court erred in its July decision to throw out the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s approval of Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.’s nearly $1 billion Regional Energy Access expansion project, Chairman Willie Phillips said Sept. 19 during the commission’s monthly meeting.

The federal appeals tossed FERC’s approval of the Transco project, saying the commission did not adequately review the natural gas pipeline’s potential greenhouse gas emissions. It also questioned whether FERC properly considered the public interest of the pipeline that would boost Transco’s capacity by up to 829,000 Dt/d to serve about 3 million customers (OGJ Online, July 31, 2024).

Phillips said the court failed to understand the consequences of its decision on “the affordability and reliability” of supplies customers will “desperately” need in the winter heating season. He also noted that Transco had already taken steps to build out its system.

Most of the project’s capacity would feed LDCs in New Jersey, with the rest flowing to Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Federal courts have scuttled three FERC project certificates this summer. In addition to Transco, the same appeals court sent back the commission’s approval of Commonwealth LNG LLC’s proposed plant in Cameron Parish, La., ordering the commission to reevaluate its approval to include climate impacts. Unlike the other projects, which were thrown out by the court, the Commonwealth LNG decision was remanded (OGJ Online, July 17, 2024).

The same court ordered FERC to redo the environmental analyses underlying both NextDecade Corp.'s Rio Grande LNG and Glenfarne Energy Transition LLC’s Texas LNG plants in Texas (OGJ Online, Aug. 7, 2024). FERC said it does not expect to finish the new environmental impact study and potentially reissue project certificates until end-2025 (OGJ Online, Sept. 18, 2024). 

Phillips, during a press conference, said the court’s rulings are “a shift in the legal landscape,” noting that the same court addressed these issues and supported FERC’s certificates in previous decision.

FERC has not decided whether to appeal the court’s order in Transco or the two other cases, Phillips said.

“We believe that court’s decision is the law,” Phillips said. “We are committed to do what the court told us to do and have already started.”

Phillips said he wanted FERC to work in a “bipartisan, legally durable way” to address the court’s concerns in all three cases, and in future certificate decisions.

The Supreme Court has indicated it could decide next term to take up these or other cases and settle the requirements for environmental reviews.