“INGAA was encouraged last week to see strong bipartisan interest from Senators in ensuring that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a timely and effective process for approving natural gas infrastructure projects.
“Today, FERC has more than a dozen pending major natural gas infrastructure projects sitting before it, ready to put shovels in the ground once FERC and other permitting agencies give the go-ahead. Pending FERC’s approval, the U.S. could see new or expanded natural gas pipelines moving energy across the country within months, ensuring that natural gas supplies keep up with rising domestic and global demand. These projects would provide real, near-term benefits to Americans and our allies and trading partners around the world. FERC will hold an open meeting on March 24, and we hope at this meeting the Commission will demonstrate intent to move forward with pending projects without adding new obstacles to their approval.
“As energy prices rise across the country and families become increasingly stressed about heating their homes, putting food on the table, and keeping the lights on, this is not the time to add additional constraints that will further delay infrastructure project permitting. Natural gas infrastructure plays an essential role not only in our future energy economy and in meeting our climate goals, but also in ensuring our country’s national security. Russia’s horrific attack on Ukraine has exasperated an already volatile energy market in Europe—volatility that is the product of long-standing European policies limiting natural gas production and infrastructure. Americans cannot afford for our regulators to go down the same path.”
Additional Background:
- FERC recently implemented two new policy statements that add additional uncertainty to the already unpredictable and complex natural gas pipeline permitting process.
- FERC’s new policies claim the authority to condition natural gas pipeline certificates on mitigation of upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions – which are outside of a pipeline’s control and FERC’s jurisdiction.
- FERC’s new policy statements threaten energy security, reliability, and affordability, including by adding new delays to pending project approvals that the Commission has already paused.
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INGAA represents the U.S. natural gas pipeline industry. INGAA’s members deliver clean, abundant, affordable natural gas throughout North America and operate approximately 200,000 miles of pipelines that serve as an indispensable link between natural gas producers and consumers.
