By Michael Brooks
WASHINGTON — FERC Commissioners Bernard McNamee and Richard Glick on Thursday voted not to act on a proposed LNG export facility, resulting in the rare surprise at what are usually tightly scripted monthly open meetings (CP17-494, CP17-495).
The commission was prepared to approve Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline’s application for its Jordan Cove LNG export terminal and accompanying Pacific Connector pipeline in Oregon as part of its consent agenda. The project was listed as being approved in a packet summarizing the actions the commission took as part of the meeting’s agenda.
But during his opening remarks, McNamee announced that he would be voting “nay” on the project after he said the state’s Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) “provided a letter, apparently, to the applicant regarding its permits. I want to see what the state of Oregon said, and I need that information to inform my decision about whether I’m going to ultimately vote for or against” the project.
The Oregon DLCD had notified Pembina on Wednesday that it had “determined that the coastal adverse effects from the project will be significant and undermine the vision set forth by the [Oregon Coastal Management Program] and its enforceable policies.” The department cited the federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and the regulations implementing the law, in asserting that because it has objected, neither FERC nor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could approve the project unless its objection is overridden by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
As required by the CZMA, the DLCD notified both FERC and the corps of its objection, but McNamee told reporters after the meeting he was unaware of what exactly the department had done. According to FERC’s eLibrary, the letter was filed with the commission on Wednesday but not actually published until the day of the meeting.
“All I know is that I saw in the news that Oregon did something on this and supposedly denied certain permits,” he told reporters. “I don’t know the details, and that’s why I want to know what the details are so I can make a reasonable decision.”
Chairman Neil Chatterjee told reporters after the meeting that McNamee informed him of his decision “just prior to the meeting.” Chatterjee had placed the project on the consent agenda in an effort to comply with the directives of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act’s Title 41 (FAST-41), which is intended to improve the coordination between federal agencies in issuing infrastructure permits to speed their construction.
Glick, however, was apparently uninformed of the decision, as he issued a scathing dissent in his opening comments as if the project were going to go through. As the newest commissioner, McNamee is last in the order of who speaks during opening remarks and staff presentations.
Glick said that in addition to his usual objection to FERC not considering the impact of natural gas projects’ greenhouse gas emissions on climate change, the commission was also disregarding an Oregon law charging the state with reducing its carbon dioxide emissions to 14 million metric tons/year by 2050. According to Glick, the project would emit 2 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent per year.
“This is significant. This is going to make it really tough for Oregon to meet its standards here,” Glick said.
The commission ultimately voted 2-1 not to act on the application at the meeting, meaning the project is still pending before it, said Deputy General Counsel David Morenoff, invited by Chatterjee at his press conference to explain to reporters the procedure.
Prior to the vote, as commission Secretary Kimberly Bose read off the list of agenda items, Glick could be seen conferring with his staff and General Counsel James Danly before he joined McNamee in voting “nay” on the Jordan Cove agenda item. Normally, commissioners vote “aye” on the consent agenda after noting their individual dissents and concurrences on specific items.
McNamee said in a statement after the meeting that he voted against the project without prejudice, meaning he did not vote on the merits of the application. But Glick told reporters after the meeting that he was concerned that he could be deemed to have prejudged the matter because of his comments before the vote — though he noted that would mean he would have to recuse himself from the proceeding, leaving the commission without a quorum to act on it. He said he would not have said anything had he known what McNamee was going to do.
The commission could vote on the project again as soon as McNamee is ready, Chatterjee said. McNamee said he expected to be able to vote on it this week.
The Jordan Cove export terminal would be in Coos County, on the southwestern coast of Oregon. It would produce 7.8 million metric tons of LNG per year, according to FERC. The Pacific Connector pipeline would run 229 miles, transporting 1.2 million dekatherms/day of gas to the terminal from a trading hub near the city of Malin, Ore., on the border of California. The project’s website lists “proximity to active Asian markets” as one of its “essential characteristics for an optimal export facility.”
Glick ‘Disappointed’ and ‘Saddened’ by Dissents
Glick issued 14 dissents at the meeting, saying he was “very disappointed that we have gotten to this place, and I’m saddened about what that says about this agency.”
“This is an agency that used to be known for nonpartisanship and compromise, but … I still can’t vote in good conscience for orders that violate the law and come nowhere close to reasoned decision-making.”
Speaking about Jordan Cove, he listed several different impacts unrelated to emissions that he said the commission failed to adequately consider and mitigate.
“I think in this order, we’re actually being honest” about whether the commission weighs the benefits of a project against the adverse impacts in determining if it’s in the public interest, Glick said. “We say, ‘We don’t really do that. We just look at the adverse impacts on landowners, and we weigh that against the economic benefits of the project, and then later on, in the order, we’ll talk about the environmental impacts, but we really don’t include the environmental impacts in our decision-making process.’ Something’s really rotten with that. … I think that’s why the commission has really earned its reputation as being a rubber stamp for these types of pipeline and LNG projects.”
Glick noted that one of the orders he dissented on denied reconsideration of staff giving Enbridge a two-year extension to complete construction of its Atlantic Bridge, a project to expand its Algonquin Gas Transmission and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline systems (CP16-9). Staff approved the extension Dec. 26, 2018 — the same day it was requested, only 34 minutes after it was published on eLibrary.
“I just don’t understand why … we’ve delegated this [function] to staff,” Glick said.
Glick gave his colleagues credit for establishing a new procedure for requests for extension of time to complete construction going forward. In the order, the commission directed the Office of the Secretary and Office of Energy Projects to notice all such requests within seven calendar days of receipt and establish a 15-calendar-day intervention and comment period deadline.
“But that doesn’t eliminate the injustice that occurred in this case,” Glick said. “I think at the very least we could have granted rehearing and reconsidered” Enbridge’s request.
McNamee acknowledged that the extension approval “doesn’t look good.” He noted that staff were aware of the incoming request and of the project’s ongoing delays because of litigation. But McNamee agreed with Glick that “the public should have more of an opportunity” to comment.
The meeting was interrupted seven times by protesters from environmental group Beyond Extreme Energy, the first such disruption since April 2019. (See Enviro Protesters Scale FERC HQ as Agency OKs More LNG.) The protesters were escorted out of the meeting room by security.
