Readers with an interest in natural gas pipelines might like to look at this short report from the Rutland Herald. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved an application from Vermont Gas.
Tag: pipeline
Although the Natural Gas Act preempts state laws about natural gas pipelines, it preserves the role state agencies play in issuing permits under federal environmental laws. This proviso appears in section 717b(d) of the statute. For example, because pipeline construction involves the discharge of water, the Clean Water Act requires the pipeline company to obtain a water quality certificate (in addition to a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)). 
Not being immune to public pressure, state agencies have allegedly dragged their feet on occasion (e.g. failing to promptly process water-quality applications) a problem Congress sought to address in 2005 via the Energy Policy Act. Congress intended to accelerate the permitting process through expedited judicial review, which allows a pipeline company to petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit if the agencies fail to meet FERC’s deadlines.
But according this report from the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, since the act took effect the speed of permitting has gone down rather than up. In 2012 President Obama issued Executive Order 13604 directing federal agencies to “adhere to guidelines and schedules” and, to that end, establishing a Steering Committee on Federal Infrastructure Permitting and Review Process Improvement. But the new committee does not seem to have injected or diffused sufficient alacrity into the executive branch.
So to solve the problem (again) Congress is considering another bill, the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act. This post on PipelineLaw.com provides some helpful background. At present, if an agency lets FERC’s deadlines slide the onus is on the pipeline company (not FERC) to go to court for an order telling the agency to comply with the timetable. Under the proposed bill if an agency fails to approve or deny a permit by FERC’s deadline, the permit will issue anyway. After passing the House (252:165) the bill is now before the Senate. With no action likely this side of the November elections, the bill will probably not have any effect on the Northeast Expansion that Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company proposes to build across northern Massachusetts.
Peter Vickery, Esq., 