 |
|||||
|
|||||
Senate Bill Would Give States Final Say on LNG Terminal Siting Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and several other Senate Democrats reintroduced a bill in March that would remove the FERC’s authority to site LNG terminals, which was granted to the agency in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
The Natural Gas Council, an industry group, has opposed the bill, saying that the public interest was best served by continued federal authority to site natural gas infrastructure.
R. Skip Horvath told the Oil & Gas Journal that existing FERC authority was consistent with the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause and that states already have a significant role in permitting through various statutes like the Clean Air and Water Acts and the Coastal Zone Management Act.
Bill Cooper, president of the Center for Liquefied Gas, warned that relegating authority to states could create a situation in which conflicting regulations “thwart interstate and foreign commerce, to the detriment of our economy.” Co-sponsoring the bill, S. 3056, were Sens. Marie E. Cantwell (D-Wash.), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). |
|||||
|
|||||
To sponsor Western Energy News, please contact WEI at 503 231-1994.
|
|||||
Copyright © 2010. Reuse of this publication or its contents is allowed with credit to Western Energy Institute. |
|||||