12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Notable
Refocus FERC as an economic regulator, not a climate regulator
Printed page 369 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions
“Focus FERC on its statutory obligation to ensure access to reliable energy at just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory rates. … It is an economic regulator and should not make itself a climate regulator.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The Secretary of Energy wrote to FERC on 29 August 2025 under section 403 of the DOE Organization Act proposing that the Commission rescind the 2022 draft Updated Certificate Policy Statement, terminate the PL18-1 proceeding and return to the 1999 Certificate Policy Statement — the framework that judges pipeline applications on need and economics rather than on greenhouse-gas effects. FERC took comments to 9 September 2025. No Commission order acting on the proposal was found, and no FERC statement redefining its own remit was found.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Instrument: a FERC policy statement or order in Docket PL18-1, not a rule with the Mandate’s phrase.
Moving the other way in the same period: FERC issued Order No. 1920-B on rehearing of Order No. 1920 (28 April 2025), sustaining the long-term regional transmission planning and cost-allocation framework the Mandate objects to (see #1031).
ferc.gov would not open for us, so FERC orders that are not published in the Federal Register could not be read.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
- ID
- 931