The chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said a federal appeals court “erred” when it threw out the agency’s approval for a Northeastern gas pipeline, claiming the ruling is disruptive to customers in the region.
At the agency’s open meeting Thursday, FERC Chair Willie Phillips said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit got it wrong when it found FERC overlooked major environmental consequences and evidence that suggested a lack of market need for the Regional Energy Access Expansion project. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. is behind the natural gas expansion project.
“I believe that the court erred when they vacated the Transco pipeline, because we know that they had already begun work and serving of customers,” Phillips told reporters in a briefing after the meeting. “And we know that this will have an impact on the reliability and the affordability” for customers.
He made the comments at FERC’s first meeting with its full complement of five commissioners. Anti-fossil fuel protesters interrupted the meeting more than a dozen times, with one pushing for President Joe Biden to make a pause on liquefied natural gas export licenses permanent. The White House and Energy Department announced the temporary pause in January on new LNG export permits to countries that lack a free-trade agreement. But a court has since reversed it.
