FERC Chairman Pat Wood said the testimony of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Tuesday underscored the economic importance of abundant, reasonably-priced natural gas. He also noted that the industry is well on its way toward increasing imports of liquefied natural gas.

In his testimony, Greenspan said that if the United States wants to maintain its current standard of living, it will have to become a bigger player in the global gas market by importing more LNG (see Daily GPI, June 11).

Wood noted that while there are currently only five existing LNG import terminals under the Commission’s jurisdiction currently in place and operating, there are applications for four new LNG projects that have been filed and are pending before the Commission. If approved as proposed, these LNG projects would provide a total deliverability of 3.7 Bcf/d of natural gas. Combined with current import terminals, deliverability would reach 8 Bcf/d.

Adding that it will take some time to get the infrastructure in place to bring gas from Alaska, Wood emphasized that LNG imports can become a more important part of meeting the nation’s demand for gas.

Wood said that the Commission over the past two years has attempted to increase domestic supply through action. He noted that FERC has decreased the time needed for approval of new pipelines — cutting processing time from about 18 months to as little as nine months. In addition, the Commission has exempted LNG terminals from FERC’s open-access requirements, providing financial certainty for companies looking to invest the billions of dollars required to develop LNG facilities.

Since the December 2002 LNG policy decision, Wood said that FERC staff has become actively involved in discussions with the proponents of more than a half dozen new LNG projects, who are preparing to file their proposals for the Commission’s consideration.

“These actions reflect our continuing determination to be part of the solution,” Wood said. “Faster consideration of requests to build new pipelines, sensitivity to the urgent need for more imports, and a focus on increased storage requirements will continue to be high Commission priorities.”

Hedging the gung-ho attitude toward pipeline and LNG terminal construction, Wood emphasized that FERC will continue to give full consideration to environmental and landowner concerns, noting that “these important factors” cannot be slighted in the effort to meet the nation’s ever-increasing demand for natural gas.

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