Cooking With Gas and Whatever Else We Need it For

This past September, thanks to the Biden administration’s war on natural gas, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and activist judges in the D.C. Court of Appeals, there was a dire warning issued for the East Coats of the US.

A planned natural gas pipeline extension – the Regional Energy Access (REA) expansion of the Transco pipeline bringing Marcellus natgas to the East Coast – had been ordered shutdown by the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Natural gas consumers in the Northeast face “devastating consequences” this winter unless temporary permission is granted to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC to continue operating a pipeline expansion, the Williams subsidiary argued in a filing with FERC.

Transco, as it is better known, stated in a filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the Regional Energy Access (REA) expansion, with 829,400 Dth/d capacity, should continue to operate, despite a court-ordered shutdown (No. CP21-94-001). It has requested FERC issue a temporary certificate of public convenience and necessity.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in July sided with opponents and ruled that FERC had erred in 2023 when it approved REA (No. 23-1064). The court stated that FERC had “arbitrarily overlooked significant environmental consequences,” among other things.

However, Transco stated that removing REA facilities from service “would have devastating consequences for consumers along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States this winter, with particularly severe repercussions in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.”

Transco also warned of “dramatic energy shortages” and “escalated energy costs” from shutting down the expansion. Allowing REA to continue operations would “prevent an emergency caused by the sudden loss of over 2 million Dth/d of natural gas pipeline transportation capacity in the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States…”

Williams, the company operating the pipeline, had already tangled with environmentalists and NorthEast states a year ago, finally shelving plans to build a nat gas pipeline through Raritan Bay in New York to serve those areas as they transitioned from heating oil to…something else.

This looked like it was going to be one more devastating defeat at the hands of cultists unless they could get a temporary certificate to keep it flowing until FERC could – or would – issue an order on the court decision.

…The temporary certificate is necessary to keep Transco, a unit of Williams Cos (WMB.N), opens new tab, running its facilities until the FERC issues an order on remand from the July 30 decision by the court.

The project is already partially in service. The FERC approved the first phase on an interim basis in October 2023. In June, Williams sought permission to put more of the project already under construction into service by July 1.

A temporary certificate of public convenience and necessity is needed in order to prevent an emergency caused by the sudden loss of over 2,000,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas pipeline transportation capacity in the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S., the company said.

The Appeals Court had set a mandate for 28 January 2025 to toss the original FERC approval certificate if the agency didn’t issue a temporary one.

Donald Trump was inaugurated on the 20th, and the war on fossil fuels truly seems to be over.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an Order on Remand Reinstating Certificate and Abandonment Authorization to Transco for the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REA) late Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. 

The order reinstates the certificate for REA as issued in its original certificate order and will take effect immediately upon the issuance of the mandate by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Williams said in a release Jan. 27.

“Williams appreciates FERC’s swift action at a time when natural gas infrastructure is being called on to reliably deliver at record volumes,” said Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer. 

In July 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit scrapped FERC’s approval of the nearly $1 billion project, calling FERC’s decision “arbitrary and capricious” because it failed to adequately review the natural gas pipeline’s potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emission (OGJ Online, July 31, 2024).

Not only is it thumbs up for that pipeline expansion, but the new commission chairman has rolled back the previous administration’s plans to ‘revise’ how it assessed the impact of pipelines on greenhouse gases (GHG). In fact, the commission isn’t going to look at it going forward.

FERC Drops Consideration of GHG Policy Statement for Gas Infrastructure

…FERC issued an order terminating its proceeding on the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in natural gas infrastructure project reviews.

Now a ‘case by case’ basis. Green heads will be ‘sploding.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission plans to review carbon emissions from gas infrastructure projects on a case-by-case basis.

https://t.co/JTYsBilEHL

— Utility Dive (@UtilityDive) January 27, 2025

And there was much rejoicing. 

All the GHG move was meant to do was provide another avenue to kill off the industry.

Under the leadership of newly installed Chairman Mark Christie, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) officially ended its misguided effort to revise its greenhouse gas policy statements on Friday.

This decision ends one of the commission’s most disruptive initiatives under former Chair Richard Glick. Glick had long advocated for the agency to subject new natural gas infrastructure to increased regulatory hurdles under the guise of mitigating the impacts of climate change. The policy would have impacted natural gas pipelines and LNG terminals in particular.

Prompted by these actions under then Chairman Glick, the Institute for Energy Research (IER) launched the FERC Transparency Project. IER criticized these policies for intentionally increasing litigation and delays in pipeline development, conflicting with FERC’s mission to ensure reliable gas supplies at a reasonable cost. IER also pursued several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to investigate the details behind the policy shift, particularly whether external political pressures from the White House influenced FERC’s decision-making process. IER was repeatedly stonewalled in our requests for transparency, having had to sue the agency on multiple requests. It was revealed, however, that Chairman Glick had multiple meetings with White House officials, especially in and around the time the policy statements were proposed.

FERC issued an order terminating its proceeding on the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in natural gas infrastructure project
👊🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲 https://t.co/odsdB8e2Zv

— mike ruger (@RugerBncurtis) January 28, 2025

‘Regulatory clarity’ translates to ‘sticking to the rules instead of inventing new stuff to gum up works you don’t like.’

The FERC order responding to the DC Circuit marks “an important step towards regulatory clarity,” @INGAApipelines President and CEO Amy Andryszak said.https://t.co/3IODHhhoBD

— Marcellus Shale (@MarcellusGas) January 28, 2025

Here’s a good graphic on the different phases of the Transco pipeline. The REA expansion is the lavender-colored Section 1.

FERC Reauthorizes Transco REA Natural Gas Pipeline Expansion After DC Circuit Denies Rehearing: FERC has reinstated its authorization of Williams’ Regional Energy Access (REA) expansion project after a federal appeals court denied a request for a… https://t.co/JzihU2wgt2 pic.twitter.com/jsGndtFleF

— Natural Gas Intel (@NGInews) January 27, 2025

And having the natgas line running proved to be hugely important during our recent frigid temps, as was predicted. BCFD = BILLION cubic feet per day

…Recently, natural gas volumes on Transco have surged due to frigid temperatures, in addition to normal demand in the power and industrial sectors, Williams said, leading to an all-time peak day on Jan. 23, 2025, with a total volume of 19.17 bcfd.

Considering what our temps were in Pensacola on the 22 -23, it sure was nice to have the warmth of that natural gas heat coming out of the vents. And know that our local power plant was humming right along – it’s natgas fired, too.

I’d wish everyone that kind of confidence in their utilities.

Maybe now they can start to have it.

Fire it up, baby!

We’re cooking with gas.