DOE/FERC Agenda

Groups Float Ideas For Bolstering Clean Power Interconnection Processes

Proponents of power grid upgrades, including renewable energy developers, are floating several recommendations for further steps to speed interconnection of new generation ahead of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) workshop next week on the topic. The proposals in an Aug. 27 report from Grid Strategies and the Brattle Group seek to build on FERC’s Order 2023, issued last summer , that aims to ease interconnection delays that disproportionally hamper renewable projects. While that rule implements new requirements to address...

Environmentalists Flag Election’s High Stakes For DOE’s LNG Review

Environmentalists are underscoring the high stakes that the November election will have for the Energy Department’s (DOE) ongoing review of the climate and other implications of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, arguing that a new administration led by Vice President Kamala Harris should “secure” a halt in new LNG approvals. By contrast, according to an Aug. 13 report from Evergreen Action, a second term for former President Donald Trump would “derail” DOE’s ongoing analysis, spurring what the group says would...

DOE Principles Seek To Entice ‘Responsible’ Carbon Management Projects

The Energy Department (DOE) is finalizing voluntary principles for “responsible” carbon management, and officials are encouraging developers to adopt the guidelines via federal funding, while environmentalists are planning to cite them when advocating for more stringent state regulations. “It’s a signal of the thinking of the folks at DOE that are perhaps the closest with these technologies, of what they think is both necessary and also achievable,” Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) energy transition director and senior attorney Nichole Saunders tells...

Amid Mixed Court Rulings, Experts Say FERC Needs New GHG Approach

A recent appellate court opinion upholding federal energy regulators’ justification for not determining the “significance” of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project’s greenhouse gas emissions might not apply in future challenges to gas projects, according to some experts, and thus could require a new approach from officials. The latest in a complex string of decisions on the topic from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit comes in an Aug. 6 opinion upholding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s...

DOE Requests More Comment As It Crafts Controversial Water Heater Rule

The Energy Department (DOE) is requesting additional input on the most controversial aspect of its consumer water heater efficiency standards, a move that could bolster the technical record supporting requirements for gas-fired “tankless” water heaters ahead of expected litigation when the standards are finalized. DOE finalized standards for most types of water heaters in May, but it declined to finalize proposed standards for gas-fired tankless models -- also known as “instantaneous” water heaters -- with officials noting they were “still...

Sierra Club Fights Developer’s Quest For ‘Immediate’ LNG Export Permit

Environmentalists are pushing back on a developer’s push for the Energy Department (DOE) to quickly authorize a proposal to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to a recent court ruling blocking the department’s LNG permitting pause, with advocates arguing the court ruling does not require “immediate” DOE action. The company, Lake Charles Exports (LCE), “overstates the court’s order. While DOE must continue with its review of LCE’s application, the order does not mandate that DOE immediately approve -- or make...

D.C. Circuit Faults FERC’s Lack of GHG ‘Significance’ Finding In LNG Case

An appellate court is agreeing with environmentalists that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) “inadequately explained” its decision not to determine in an environmental review if a natural gas project’s greenhouse gases are “significant,” though the judges have given the agency several options to address the concern. Debate about whether FERC must determine the “significance” of GHGs emissions from gas projects has been ongoing for months, given that such a finding would trigger more robust analysis requirements under the National...

White House Touts Initial Picks For $1.7 Billion To Retool Plants For EVs

The Biden administration has selected nearly a dozen “shuttered or at risk” auto manufacturing plants that will share up to $1.7 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to convert toward production of partially or fully electric vehicles (EVs) and related supply chains. The Energy Department’s (DOE) July 11 announcement of the preliminary awards is underscoring continued efforts by the Biden administration to distribute as much IRA funding as possible before the November elections. Even so, the grants are still...

Federal Court Blocks Biden Administration’s Controversial LNG Pause

A federal court in Louisiana has stayed the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports -- forcing the agency to restart reviews of LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries while it conducts its review of whether such exports are in the “public interest.” “[T]he Court finds that the Plaintiff States are entitled to the Injunctive Relief requested as to the LNG Export Ban. Accordingly, the Court will grant Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction, and order that the...

FERC Approves Major LNG Export Terminal Amid DOE’s Permitting Pause

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is approving the country’s largest-ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal, though a separate approval for the project remains in doubt amid the Energy Department’s (DOE) ongoing LNG permitting pause to assess whether additional exports are in the “public interest.” During its monthly meeting June 27, FERC voted 2-1 to approve Venture Capital’s Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) terminal and a related pipeline. Chairman Willie Philips (D) and Commissioner Mark Christie (R) voted to approve...

Environmentalists Urge DOE To Weigh Supply Chain GHGs For LNG Exports

An environmental group is detailing the climate, economic, and community harms that it says the Energy Department (DOE) must weigh when assessing if liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are in the “public interest,” pressing officials to review the “full scope” of impacts throughout the LNG supply chain, including GHGs. “LNG is one of the dirtiest sources of energy on the planet, with greenhouse gases that are worse than coal,” argued Jeremy Symons, a political consultant who works with environmental groups,...

IPI Says Contested DOE Efficiency Rules Address Various ‘Market Failures’

New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) is backing the Energy Department’s (DOE) economic justification for tougher energy efficiency standards for gas-fired appliances, arguing the rules help address “market failures” in which consumers sometimes do not choose a more-efficient appliance even if it would save them costs over time. “DOE’s modeling approach reflects the complexities of accounting for consumer choices in markets where the energy-efficiency gap exists,” IPI writes in a June 17 amicus brief in American Gas...

DOE Rebuts Gas Groups’ Claims Against Furnace, Water Heater Standards

In litigation that could influence the gas sector’s market share for key appliances, the Energy Department (DOE) is defending its decision to set strict efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters that effectively push categories of less-efficient models off the market. At issue is whether the rules violate a prohibition in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) against issuing standards that eliminate products with a “performance characteristic” on which consumers rely. DOE says the type of heat exchanger at...

Senate nears confirmation of three FERC nominees

The Senate is nearing confirmation of the Biden administration’s three picks for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) -- teeing up a full slate of five commissioners for the first time in over a year as the agency weighs future policies affecting the electricity and natural gas sectors. At press time, the Senate on June 12 had voted to confirm two of the nominees -- David Rosner (D) and Lindsay See (R) -- while senators had also voted to formally...

Senate ENR Advances FERC Picks Despite GOP Transmission Gripes

The Senate energy committee in a series of bipartisan votes has advanced three nominees to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), signaling the picks likely have enough support to receive confirmation by the full Senate. Such a move would give the agency a full slate of five commissioners for the first time in over a year. FERC currently has three sitting commissioners, the minimum required to conduct business, and the four-year term of Commissioner Allison Clements (D) expires at...

House Republicans, Granholm Debate Legal Authority For LNG Export Pause

House Republicans are continuing to spar with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm over her department’s decision to pause new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits as the administration reviews whether such exports are in the public interest -- including whether the Natural Gas Act (NGA) has a presumption in favor of approving such exports. The debate concerns the Energy Department’s (DOE) announcement earlier this year that it is reviewing its process for determining if additional LNG exports are in the public...

Clean Power Sector Sees FERC Grid Rule As Milestone, But Only First Step

Representatives of the clean power sector are calling the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) new transmission planning rule a major milestone while also warning that successfully deploying major power lines will depend on the policy’s implementation as well as additional action by both FERC and Congress. “The potential impact [of FERC’s rule] is enormous,” said Brett White of Pine Gate Renewables during a May 21 event hosted by the American Clean Power Association (ACP). However, “this rule dictates process, not...

Senate Republicans Approve CRA Attack On DOE Furnace Efficiency Rule

The Senate with mostly Republican votes has approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would roll back a recently finalized Energy Department (DOE) efficiency standard for consumer furnaces, even though the measure faces a veto threat from President Joe Biden and is therefore unlikely to be enacted. The Senate approved the measure 50-45 late May 21, representing the latest attack from congressional Republicans against a series of recently completed Biden administration climate policies. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the resolution’s...

GAO Urges DOE To Reduce Cost Risks From Carbon Management Projects

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is pressing the Department of Energy (DOE) to reduce the risk that federal funds are squandered on failed carbon management projects, finding that officials and developers have not sufficiently reviewed remedies for such risks and that DOE in at least one case awarded funds to a project that might not be “technically acceptable.” The concerns surface in a May 16 report issued pursuant to a requirement in the 2020 USE IT Act for GAO to...

Final FERC Transmission Rules Touted As Boosting Clean Power, Reliability

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has finalized a long-awaited major update to transmission policy, including requirements that grid officials use a 20-year planning horizon and consider numerous projected needs for more power lines -- steps that could ease integration of significant levels of clean energy onto the grid. The transmission planning rule -- which FERC adopted May 13 alongside a narrower rule implementing Congress’s expansion of federal “backstop” siting authority -- is garnering praise from clean energy backers and...

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