FeRC chairman asks pipelines to raise ‘notice to proceed' rule concerns with Congress

摘要

Natural gas pipeline companies' concerns about a rule barring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from issuing notices to proceed with construction pending rehearing could be resolved by Congress, Chairman Neil Chatterjee said July 16. Industry advocates, including the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, fear Order No. 871 will have unintended and negative consequences for pipeline projects, including the introduction of significant uncertainty with respect to the timeline for project development and increases in overall project risk and costs. They have asked for clarification of the scope of the rule. During a question-and-answer session with reporters after FERC's monthly meeting, Chatterjee said the commission would review the comments that have been submitted, though he did not say whether the rule would be tweaked. At the same time, he requested that people raise their concerns with Congress, which he suggested is “potentially looking at legislation in this area.”