McIntyre says FERC is streamlining the LNG plant permitting process, reducing the timing
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a news release saying the commission has not sent letters to LNG project applicants announcing delays of 12 to 18 months for pending applications for liquefied natural gas terminals.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that unnamed sources had described the letters. “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is preparing to notify some developers of liquefied natural gas plants of 12- to 18-month delays in reviews, the people said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public. That could affect the commercial viability of several ventures vying for a spot in the rapidly growing global gas market.”
FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre refuted a report that the commission had issued delay letters during an interview on the FERC Open Access podcast.
FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre said that recent media reports of such letters are incorrect.
“FERC has issued no such letter.” McIntyre said the timing for LNG applications is getting shorter.
“In just the last few days we have made truly significant strides in reforming the permitting process with our federal partners, eliminating duplicative efforts and instituting a streamlined procedure that will significantly reduce our LNG permitting timelines. The details are still being hammered out, but we expect to have a formalized agreement in place in the coming days. I expect to be able to provide more detail on this soon.”
In the past six months, FERC has issued revised notices of schedule for two projects, and one schedule for a greenfield LNG project that is subject to the FAST-41 process, McIntyre said.
“FERC staff is very cognizant of the financial market impacts of its LNG project schedules,” McIntyre said.
“Moreover, since we have been working diligently to streamline our permitting process and are still making significant strides in that direction, the release of any schedules to date would have been premature.
“FERC takes very seriously the schedules that it issues regarding these LNG projects,” McIntyre said. “We will not issue schedules until we have all the facts necessary and have implemented our improved processes to create accurate schedules.”
McIntyre was nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Trump in August and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2017. Previously McIntyre was the co-leader of the global energy practice at the law firm Jones Day, where he practiced law for nearly 30 years.
