After more than two years and much debate, FERC recently approved Gas Transmission Northwest LLC's (GTN) GTN XPress Project. GTN XPress was designed to add 150,000 Dth/d of pipeline capacity to the GTN system, enabling it to...more
It is a bedrock principle of natural gas pipeline regulation that pipelines can only sell up to the transportation capacity of their systems on a firm basis. In return, shippers who want such firm service pay "recourse rate"...more
Buried toward the end of the 91-page bill unveiled by Senator Manchin on September 21, 2022, is a small but significant provision amending the Natural Gas Act's (NGA) definition of natural gas to include "hydrogen mixed or...more
Just one month after issuing two policy statements expected to seriously impact the processing of applications for gas infrastructure projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has made a midcourse correction...more
At its February 2022 meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved two policy statements that will significantly affect its processing of applications for gas infrastructure projects. In its Updated...more
On January 31, 2022, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a district court's dismissal of an antitrust challenge by a class of solar rooftop customers against their municipal utility, the Salt River Project...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the issuance of the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) second Security Directive (Directive) creating mandatory cybersecurity rules for owners and operators of...more
Less than a month after the high-profile ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued its first-ever set of mandatory...more
The May 7, 2021, ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline may be a turning point in the way the United States thinks about cybersecurity. The attack underscores the significant threat cyberattacks pose to operational...more
The "new normal" we currently find ourselves in has brought a number of changes to business as usual in the world of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). One notable, drastic change is that FERC hearings are now...more
Several weeks ago, we reported on a new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking comments on whether its existing return on equity (ROE) policy should be revamped. ...more
Although primarily focused on the electric transmission industry, a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) announced reconsideration of how the agency determines returns on equity (ROE) and...more
Controversies over natural gas pipeline siting and construction have turned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) into a newsmaker in recent years....more
On April 19, FERC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) soliciting public comments on whether to revise its long-standing policy governing the processing and approval of new natural gas pipeline facilities under Section 7 of the...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a long-standing reputation for non-partisan decision-making. This was reinforced by its January 2018 rejection of the Department of Energy’s demand that electric pricing...more
At his first Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) meeting this past December, Chairman Kevin McIntyre announced the agency will be soliciting comments on whether to revise its 1999 Certificate Policy Statement (CPS),...more
In light of reduced corporate tax rates as the result of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (Tax Act), a broad coalition of gas industry trade associations and gas producers recently filed a petition with the Federal Energy...more
One of the major recent changes made to the federal tax code as the result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was the reduction in corporate income tax from 35 percent to 21 percent. As soon as the corporate tax cuts took effect at...more
Pipeline expansion capacity is priced at the incremental cost of service of the new facilities to be constructed. This causes the incremental recourse rate to generally be higher than the otherwise applicable system recourse...more
FERC staff has asked gas pipelines with pending expansion applications how 2018 tax law changes will impact their proposed project’s cost of service and the project’s proposed incremental rates. FERC has imposed a quick,...more
The Chinese government recently issued several reform measures intended to open up its gas industry to foreign oil and gas developers. An inflow of foreign capital and technology, it is hoped, will spur construction of the...more
On June 4, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) and the U.S. Coast Guard signed a Memorandum of Agreement regarding division of lead agency responsibilities...more
On May 16, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) issued a revised proposed rule regarding hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands for oil and gas production....more
The Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. made a filing with the FERC proposing to transform one of its existing lean gas lines into effectively a gathering line to move wet gas from gas fields within the Utica Shale play to...more