FERC Announces Policies for Evaluating Climate Impacts

On February 18, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published an interim policy statement titled “Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Natural Gas Infrastructure Project Reviews.” The document describes FERC’s procedures for evaluating climate impacts under National Environmental Policy Act and how FERC will integrate climate considerations into its public interest determinations under the Natural Gas Act. The document states that FERC is establishing a rebuttable presumption that proposed projects with 100,000 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) emissions will be deemed to have a significant impact on climate change. The document also explains how FERC will quantify greenhouse gas emissions and how FERC will handle the potential mitigation of climate impacts. You can read more about the policy statement in this blog post