FERC’s March Open Meeting: Surviving the Ides of March

Originally published for customers March 17, 2023

FERC had its March open meeting yesterday, and while the orders are delayed in becoming publicly available due to a webmaster issue, we are expecting the following actions with respect to natural gas projects: approval of Columbia Gas Transmission's Virginia Electrification Project; approval of Alliance Pipeline's Three Rivers Interconnection Project; approval of Cameron LNG's amended expansion application which eliminates the need for a fifth train at the site; and denial of the rehearing requests filed against the Certificate Order authorizing Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line's Regional Energy Access Expansion Project, which would allow FERC staff to authorize the commencement of needed tree clearing.

Arbo is actively monitoring the results and orders of this month’s open meeting. While 12 electric items and two gas rate proceeding items have been updated, we are still awaiting the hydro and gas certificate items that were acted upon at yesterday’s meeting to understand the results and implications of the orders. This ArView currently states our expected results of the orders from yesterday’s meeting, and we’ll be updating this article as soon as the information becomes available.

With the exception of the first delayed start under Acting Chairman Phillips (45 minutes), the March Commission meeting represented a smooth, business as usual FERC. Arbo attended the March meeting, summarized below, to help interpret and relay the pressing agenda items to our customers.

Ahead of every FERC open meeting, once each Sunshine Notice is published, Arbo analyzes and summarizes each docket pending before the Commission to help customers anticipate what will be decided upon in the coming week. There were 12 electric items, two gas rate proceeding items, one hydro item, and five certificate items acted upon, with the most notable actions summarized below:

Hydro

Arbo includes the hydro ruling from this month’s Commission meeting as it relates to section 401 of the Clean Water Act, a key issue that has been a topic of discussion with customers, especially with respect to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

H-1: P-2322-073 - On January 31st, 2020, Brookfield White Pine Hydro LLC (BWPH) submitted an application for the Shawmut Hydroelectric Project, FERC Project No. 2322-069, located in Maine. On October 18th, 2021, BWPH submitted an application for water quality certification, pursuant to section 401(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). On October 12th, 2022, the Maine DEP issued an order denying the water quality certification application, stating that BWPH did not furnish sufficient information to evaluate and process the determination and potential material changes since the filing of the application the year prior. On November 7th, 2022, BWPH filed a request for the Commission to determine that the denial issued by Maine DEP did not satisfy the regulatory burden of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and therefore the certification requirement for the project should be waived. On November 22nd, 2022, the Commission issued a determination affirming the Maine DEP denial of water quality certification. On December 16th, 2022, BWPH filed a request for rehearing of the November 22nd order, stating that the Commission did not acknowledge or address the substantive basis of the November 7th request. BWPH states that the Commission was wrong in its determination that the denial by Maine DEP satisfied the requirements of the CWA and that the requirement to obtain a water quality certification for the Project should be waived. March agenda item H-1 was an order on the request for rehearing by BWPH, which we expect to be an order denying the rehearing request.

Natural Gas Certificates

The Commission acted on five key certificate proceeding items, with the most highly contested issue being an order on Williams’s Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company’s Regional Energy Access Expansion Project.

C-1: CP23-11-000 - On November 3rd, 2022, Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC (FGT) filed a Prior Notice Request pursuant to FGT's blanket certificate. On January 13th, 2023, Commission staff issued an Environmental Assessment for the Tampa West Project concluding that approval thereof would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. On January 13th, 2023, Food and Water Watch (FWW) submitted a protest of the West Tampa Project. FWW contends the FGT's request requires heightened scrutiny due to the increased delivery of methane gas to Tampa Electric Company's Big Bend Modernization Project, and requests an environmental review of the cumulative and indirect effects of the West Tampa Project. On February 24, 2023, Commission staff issued a Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the project. The SEA found that “the West Tampa Project, when considered with other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions in the region, will not result in a significant cumulative impact on environmental resources. We expect March agenda item C-1 to be an order on the Prior Notice Request, which we anticipate being approved.

C-2: CP21-498-000 - On September 21st, 2021, Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC (Columbia Gas) filed an application pursuant to section 7(c) of the NGA requesting authorization to construct and operate the Virginia Electrification Project. On December 16th, 2022, Commission staff issued a final EIS for the Virginia Electrification Project, concluding that “approval thereof, with appropriate mitigating measures, would result in some adverse environmental impacts; however, with the exception of climate change impacts, those impacts would not be significant.” The final EIS explained that it is not characterizing the Virginia Electrification Project's greenhouse gas emissions as significant or insignificant because the Commission is conducting a generic proceeding to determine whether and how the Commission will conduct significance determinations going forward. We expect March agenda item C-2 to be a certificate order approving the application.

C-3: CP21-113-000 - On April 1st, 2021, Alliance Pipeline L.P. (Alliance) filed an application with the Commission seeking authorization under section 7(c) of the NGA. On January 13th, 2023, Commission staff issued a final EIS for the Three Rivers Interconnection Project, concluding that “approval thereof, with appropriate mitigating measures, would result in some adverse environmental impacts; however, with the exception of climate change impacts, those impacts would not be significant.” We expect March agenda item C-3 to be a certificate order approving the application.

C-4: CP22-41-000 - On January 18th, 2022, Cameron LNG filed an amendment application proposing to amend its authorization under section 3 of the Natural Gas Act for the Cameron Expansion Project that was issued by the Commission on May 5th, 2016 in Docket No. CP15-560-000. On December 2nd, 2022, Commission staff issued an Environmental Assessment for the amendment application, concluding that “approval thereof, with appropriate mitigating measures, would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.” We expect March agenda item C-4 to be an order approving the amendment application.

C-5 – C-5 was omitted from this month’s meeting.

C-6: CP21-94-001 - On January 11th, 2023, the Commission issued an order authorizing Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company (Transco) to construct and operate the Regional Energy Access Expansion Project. On February 10th, 2023, a host of environmental intervenors, including the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Food & Water Watch, New Jersey League of Conservation requested rehearing on the Certificate Order. The Rehearing Requests generally assert that the Commission was wrong in concluding that the Regional Energy Access Expansion Project is or will be required by the present or future public convenience and necessity under the Natural Gas Act, and that the Commission's environmental review for the Regional Energy Access Expansion Project was deficient under the National Environmental Policy Act. Furthermore, under FERC's rule that Chairman Chatterjee issued in 2020, FERC staff can't allow "construction" to begin until there is a ruling on all rehearing requests. So, since FERC denied rehearing, FERC staff would then be allowed to approve REA's request to commence tree-clearing and would likely do so. The critical issue will be whether that still gives REA enough time to cut down all the trees by the end of this month. We expect the March agenda item C-6 to be an order denying the rehearing requests, allowing Transco to begin tree clearing.