The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed a three-tier framework intended to simplify approvals for work at liquefied natural gas facilities, Offshore Energy reports. The plan would allow eligible activities to proceed under a blanket authorisation programme rather than require individual authorisation orders, with separate routes for limited changes, capacity increases and new infrastructure.
FERC voted unanimously to put forward the proposal through a notice of proposed rulemaking. The programme would apply to eligible activities under Sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act and draws on the commission’s blanket certificate system for interstate natural gas pipelines, which has operated for 40 years. Interested parties would have 60 days from publication of the notice in the Federal Register to submit comments.
The first tier would permit qualifying activities automatically, accompanied by periodic reporting. Such work could not raise a plant’s authorised capacity or extend its authorised vertical or horizontal dimensions within its footprint. It would also have to keep operating parameters, including flows, pressures, temperatures and loads, within the relevant design limits, according to the proposal described by Offshore Energy.
A second tier would require 60 days’ advance notice for activities that could increase authorised capacity. Those projects would have to remain inside the plant’s footprint and keep operating conditions within the design limits of both affected and remaining facilities. A third tier, requiring 90 days’ advance notice, would cover construction of new facilities, including liquefaction trains, LNG storage tanks and marine berths, together with associated auxiliary systems. That route could include infrastructure outside the existing footprint, subject to restrictions on facility type, location and size.
The proposal also includes standard environmental and engineering design conditions intended to address potential project impacts, alongside requirements for compliance with applicable laws. FERC chairman Laura V. Swett presented the initiative as a way to avoid unnecessary infrastructure delays while retaining safeguards. The framework remains a proposal, with the consultation process still to follow publication in the Federal Register.