FERC is making “significant strides” to address energy infrastructure permitting, considered essential to the nation’s security, according to Acting Chairman Willie Phillips.
Addressing a recent Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Phillips and his fellow commissioners answered questions about the challenges facing the nation’s energy systems.
Phillips also addressed the contentious issue of reforming the energy permitting process, a top priority for Senate Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV) and many U.S. industries.
“I would be remiss not to mention the significant strides” made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding permitting, Phillips said.
“Our country urgently needs more energy infrastructure of all kinds. As Russia’s war in Ukraine has made clear, energy infrastructure is essential to any country’s national and geostrategic security.”
Phillips said, “What we as a nation must do is make sure that we bring our abundant energy resources online and deliver their output to consumers.” FERC is taking steps to “streamline our permitting processes, so that we can more efficiently issue our decisions while, at the same time, continuing to enhance their legal durability.”
Manchin noted that last summer he secured a commitment from President Biden and Democratic leadership to overhaul the energy permitting process. The legislation did not pass, but similar bills have been introduced to restart the process.
“I believe we have another chance this year,” Manchin said. He also noted that FERC has begun making decisions at a faster pace compared to previous years.
“FERC approved more natural gas infrastructure in just the last four months than in each of the prior two years,” Manchin said earlier this month. “Furthermore, FERC appears to be easing off the policy that most natural gas projects require a full environmental impact statement instead of the more abbreviated environmental assessment.
“This course correction has the potential to cut review times in half without cutting corners. However, despite these improvements, there is still a large shadow of uncertainty over whether FERC will revert to its ill-conceived natural gas and greenhouse gas policy statements issued early last year.”
Under former FERC Chairman Richard Glick, FERC moved to broaden the agency’s consideration of greenhouse gas emissions impacts in its decision making for natural gas projects. The industry pushed back, citing potential for added regulatory uncertainty and lengthier project reviews.
Manchin and his fellow senators used most of their time peppering the commissioners with questions about the reliability of the nation’s power grid. Winter Storm Elliott last December and Uri two years ago sharply impacted grid reliability.
During Elliott, more than 1.5 million Americans lost power across parts of the country. Uri caused widespread blackouts, including across most of Texas, for which the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has been faulted.
In response, FERC this year enacted rules to require power plants to prepare for winter weather.
Coal Still Essential
Manchin, who represents a top coal-producing state, noted that coal-fired power plants had seen “significantly fewer outages than natural gas plants. The grid would have been absolutely decimated during these storms if our coal fleet was retired prematurely.”
Manchin laid the blame on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and investors in environmental, social and governance projects, which he said “are on a crusade to shut down every one of these coal plants, whether the grid is ready for it or not…
“It makes no sense at all to take tools out of the toolbox. No energy resource is immune to weather disruptions, whether that be frozen wind turbines, frozen gas wells or frozen coal stockpiles – all of which we saw in recent winters.”
Each commissioner was asked by Manchin about whether coal remained important for the U.S. energy mix. Is it possible, he asked, to eliminate coal-fired power in the near term and maintain a reliable system?
“We’ve talked about this before,” Phillips said. “I believe in an all-of-the-above approach. Whatever resources are needed to keep our grid reliable; we have to make sure they are available.”
If coal-fired power plants were taken offline today, Manchin asked, would the grid remain reliable?
“It would not,” Phillips said. Fellow Democrat Allison Clements concurred. “Right now, today, no,” she said.
The two Republican commissioners also agreed. “As things stand, coal is required,” Commissioner James Danly said. “It makes up just under a quarter of all the installed capacity in America and it would be impossible, given the locations and the realities of the electricity system, to replace it.”
Commissioner Mark Christi said coal was “more dependable than gas and yes, we need to keep coal generation available for the foreseeable future.”
