Former FERC Chairman Chatterjee Sees LNG Permit Pathways Improving, but DOE Pause Clouds Outlook

While regulatory uncertainty from the Department of Energy (DOE) hangs over U.S. LNG development, former FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee sees the pathway for permitting at the Commission improving.

The liquefied natural gas industry’s focus has largely been pulled to the DOE since January, when the Biden administration ordered the agency to study the impact of new U.S. export facilities on the domestic market and environment. However, the rate of LNG permit decisions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also has slowed over the last several years.

Chatterjee told NGI’s Jamison Cocklin, managing editor of LNG, the long wait times for LNG facility approvals largely can be attributed to a deadlock on the Commission that was broken with the departure of Commissioner James...