Gauging need for projects a focus of debate as FERC mulls pipeline policy review

摘要

Industry and environment attorneys October 29 offered competing visions on whether major changes are needed to the commission’s 1999 natural gas pipeline certificate policy. Speaking at the Energy Bar Association’s Midyear Energy Forum, Gillian Giannetti of the Natural Resource Defense Counsel’s Sustainable FERC project, made the case that the legislative history of the Natural Gas Act supports balancing a broad range of factors including environmental and landowner impacts when considering whether a project is in the public convenience and necessity. She argued for moving away from a system that leans heavily on the existence of precedent agreements to determine that projects are needed.