12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Notable
Limit FERC pipeline certificate decisions to whether gas is needed
Printed page 407 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions
“Limit its NGA decision-making on natural gas pipeline certificates to the question of whether there is a need for the natural gas.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The Secretary of Energy proposed to FERC on 29 August 2025, under section 403 of the DOE Organization Act, that the Commission rescind the 2022 draft Updated Certificate Policy Statement, terminate the PL18-1 proceeding and continue to rely on the 1999 Certificate Policy Statement — the framework under which a section 7(c) certificate turns on need for the gas. FERC took comments to 9 September 2025; no order acting on the proposal was found.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
A formal proposal by the Secretary under a statutory referral power is a directive-shaped step without effect yet, so attempted.
#1023 and #1036 sit on the same proposal with different objects; only #1035’s object — the certificate test itself — is what the proposal addresses.
FERC orders are not published in the Federal Register, and ferc.gov would not open for us, so any Commission order after the notices cited could not be read.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- FERC natural gas pipeline certificates under the Natural Gas Act
- ID
- 1035