A busy Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today approved two new liquefied natural gas export projects: Driftwood LNG in Louisiana and Port Arthur LNG in Texas. The approval also continued the squabble at FERC over assessing the environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from LNG projects.
Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur concurred with Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioner Bernard McNamee in approving the projects, but restated her view that FERC does a timid job of taking on global warming issues. She said the commission should be proactive and risks continuing a pattern of having its actions in this area remanded by the federal courts. In a written concurrence, LaFleur said, “I do not believe it is beyond the capability of this Commission to determine whether a given rate or volume of GHG emissions should be considered significant. The Commission has grappled with every other identifiable and measurable environmental impact; for example, we quantify, consider, and mitigate impacts to land, water, and species, and we make determinations on whether the impacts to wetlands or mussels are significant.”
Commissioner Richard Glick dissented on both orders, saying at FERC’s public meeting that the commission is simply ignoring greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of their magnitude, tiptoeing around what has become a politically fraught issue in the Trump administration. Chaterjee and McNamee are Republican appointees. LaFleur and Glick are Democrats.
Chatterjee said in a news release, “LNG exports can help increase the availability of inexpensive, clean-burning fuel to our global allies who are looking for an efficient, affordable, environmentally friendly source of generation.”
Driftwood LNG would export some 27.6 million metric tons of liquefied gas annually from a terminal in Calcasieu Parish. It includes 56 miles of main pipeline, 3.4 miles of lateral pipeline, 15 new meter stations and three new compressor stations to move up to 3.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Port Arthur LNG would export about 13.5 million metric tons per year from a previously approved but unbuilt import terminal near Port Arthur. It features a 130-mile Louisiana Connector pipeline and the 32-mile Texas Connector, moving 2 billion cubic feet of gas daily.
In other action today, FERC issued a final rule to implement the 2018 America’s Water Infrastructure Act. The rule provides for expedited licensing treatment for those who wish to qualify to add hydropower production to existing non-power dams and for qualified closed-loop pumped storage. A FERC press release notes that applications for expedited licensing “most include documentation with stakeholders, including federal and state agencies, tribes and dam owners.”
FERC today also told the New York Independent System Operator and the PJM Interconnection to change their pricing rules for fast-start resources. FERC found that NYISO and PJM’s fast start prices “are unjust and unreasonable because they do not allow prices to reflect the marginal cost of serving load.” Both regional wholesale markets must make changes in their tariffs to reflect FERC’s order. NYISO must make a compliance filing by December 31, and implement the changes by December 31, 2020. PJM must comply by July 31, with a “one time informational report by August 30, 2019, explaining how the proposed tariff provisions do no raise new market power concerns.”
Chatterjee also announced that he has named veteran FERC attorney Maria Farinella FERC chief of staff. She was legal advisor to Chairman Joe Kelliher from 2007-2009, then as a senior attorney and senior legal advisor in the agency’s general counsel’s office from 2009 until named new chief of staff.
She replaces Anthony Pugliese, who resigned unexpectedly as FERC chief of staff March 15. Utility Dive reported at that time, “In July, Pugliese appeared on an episode of Breitbart News Sunday, a podcast run by the right-wing media outlet, and criticized New York Democrats for blocking pipeline expansion through the state.
“Then, in August, the chief of staff told a nuclear energy conference that FERC is helping identify coal and nuclear plants essential to the grid — the first step in a bailout plan leaked from the Trump administration that spring.”
— Kennedy Maize