FERC Works to Speed Up LNG Reviews

September 17, 2018

In the past, it has taken years for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue decisions on whether or not to authorize onshore LNG facilities. At the end of August, however, FERC announced that following that been done to help speed up the process: addition of more FERC staff for LNG projects, agreement with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to improve coordination between the agencies on siting and safety reviews of LNG projects, use of an outside contractor to assist with construction inspections, and use of third-party contractors to perform analyses that involve non-proprietary information.

FERC also released schedules to complete environmental reviews (either an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement) as well as decision deadlines for all federal approvals for the following ten other LNG projects:

Project	Completion of the Environmental Review	Federal Authorizations Decision Deadline
Freeport Train 4	November 2, 2018	January 31, 2019
Alaska LNG	November 8, 2018	February 6, 2020
Driftwood LNG	January 18, 2019	April 18, 2019
Port Arthur	January 31, 2019	May 1, 2019
Corpus Christi	February 8, 2019	May 9, 2019
Texas LNG	March 15, 2019	June 13, 2019
Jacksonville Eagle	April 12, 2019	July 11, 2019
Gulf LNG	April 17, 2019	July 16, 2019
Annova LNG	April 19, 2019	July 18, 2019
Rio Grande LNG	April 26, 2019	July 25, 2019
Plaquemines	May 3, 2019	August 1, 2019
Jordan Cove	August 30, 2019	November 28, 2019

This should help LNG developers as they work to navigate the permitting process and obtain the approvals that lenders want to see before such projects are financed.

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