On January 24, 2025, FERC withdrew its 2022 draft Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) Policy Statement and terminated the associated proceeding. FERC determined that, after reviewing the entire record, issues concerning GHG emissions are better analyzed on a case-by-case basis when raised by parties in proceedings. Commissioners Phillips, Rosner, and Chang issued a joint concurrence noting that, although FERC is withdrawing its draft GHG Policy Statement, FERC still considers GHG emissions under its National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) analysis and balances project benefits with potential adverse consequences under the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”).
Beginning in 2018, FERC issued multiple Notices of Inquiry (“NOI”) requesting comment on how FERC may consider GHG emissions. On April 19, 2018, FERC first issued a NOI which sought information to determine whether revisions were necessary to the then-existing approach on deciding whether proposed interstate natural gas transportation facilities were consistent with the public convenience and necessity. After receiving over 3,000 comments, FERC issued a second NOI on February 8, 2021, which requested comments on how FERC could consider GHG emissions in its review processes. Specifically, FERC requested comments on potential models for reviewing the significance of GHG emissions, if certain amounts of GHG emissions could be considered de minimis, and whether the social costs of GHG emissions could be analyzed in proceedings.
Following these NOIs, on February 18, 2022, FERC issued an interim Policy Statement establishing procedures for assessing GHG emissions in reviews of natural gas infrastructure projects under the NGA and NEPA. FERC then made the interim Policy Statement a draft Policy Statement and stated it would not be applied to pending proceedings before issuing final guidance.
FERC then, on January 24, 2025, withdrew the draft Policy Statement and terminated its associated proceeding. In its statement terminating the proceeding, FERC argued the issues raised in the proceeding pertaining to GHG emissions are better decided on a case-by-case basis when raised by parties. FERC also noted this decision does not affect other pending proceedings involving review processes of natural gas infrastructure projects.
Commissioners Phillips, Rosner, and Chang issued a joint concurrence. Their concurrence stated that the terminated proceeding provided a variety of perspectives that have informed a public convenience and necessity review process that, under the NGA and NEPA, has been upheld by the courts. They argued that continuing FERC’s existing case-by-case approach will bring certainty to parties in future proceedings.
The order, issued in Docket Nos. PL21-3-000 and PL21-3-001, is available here.