FERC proposes blanket authorizations for certain activities at LNG plants
- Expansions of up to 25 acres eligible after 90-day notice
- Proposal sets no cost limits, unlike pipeline blanket program
- Commissioner Chang seeks more comment on 25-acre limit
Photo: Wikimedia Commons - ThuringiusWASHINGTON, Oct 15 — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday proposed rules that would allow certain activities at liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants to go ahead without case-specific authorization orders under sections 3 or 7 of the Natural Gas Act.
In the notice of proposed rulemaking in Docket No. RM26-2-001, the commission proposed a tiered "blanket" program modeled on the one it has run for interstate pipelines since 1982. Some activities would be authorized automatically. Others would require a 60-day or 90-day prior notice period, during which anyone, including commission staff, could protest.
Automatic authorization would cover activities that do not increase a plant's authorized capacity and stay within its existing footprint and design limits, the commission said. Activities that would increase capacity while staying within the plant's footprint and design limits would be subject to the 60-day notice period.
New facilities outside a plant's footprint, such as liquefaction trains, LNG tanks and marine berths, would be subject to the 90-day notice period. They would also have to permanently occupy no more than 25 acres on adjacent, previously disturbed or developed land. Commission staff determined that 25 acres would allow for two LNG tanks or a single large liquefaction train, the document said.
The commission said cost limits are not a reasonable proxy for the effects of LNG activities and did not propose them. It estimated that respondents would save 9,988 hours of effort, which it valued at $1,018,776.
Commissioner Judy W. Chang concurred in a separate statement and asked for further comment on the acreage limit.
"I am concerned that we do not yet have enough information in the record to justify the selection of a 25-acre limit as a proxy for minimal impact of a proposed project," Chang wrote.
Comments are due 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
The commission issued a notice of inquiry on Nov. 20, 2025, and received 18 comments. In those comments, attorneys general for nine states and Earthjustice opposed allowing expansions under a blanket program.