Tense FERC Meeting Exposes Rift Over GHG Emissions, Natural Gas Pipeline Policy

Policy differences over greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions provided the tinder that ignited a tense public debate over a pair of seemingly mundane natural gas certificate orders during last week’s FERC meeting.

A last-minute procedural move from Commissioner James Danly to amend orders on infrastructure expansions proposed by Northern Natural Gas (NNG) and Tuscarora Gas Transmission Co. seemed to take Chairman Richard Glick by surprise. The subsequent back-and-forth hinted at an ideological rift at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over the agency’s approach to regulating natural gas infrastructure.

Pipeline companies could find themselves straddling that political divide as FERC moves to update its 1999 policy statement on natural gas certificate orders. The looming...