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FERC failed to use its authority to review LNG export facility, green group says

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FERC failed to use its authority to review LNG export facility, green group says

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission failed to exercise its jurisdictional authority over a proposed Gibbstown LNG port on the Delaware River in New Jersey, according to an environmental group citing nonpublic documents obtained from FERC.

Specifically, representatives for the proposed New Fortress Energy LNG export facility back in 2017 reportedly told FERC that the commission did not have jurisdiction over the facility, an assertion that FERC did not challenge or verify, according to a Sept. 27 Delaware Riverkeeper news release. The Delaware Riverkeeper cited documents the group had obtained from FERC through a Freedom of Information Act request.

"There was no indication that FERC staff had independently verified the details asserted to them regarding the facility nor that they had received any meaningful, detailed, or verifiable documents confirming the characterization presented to them," the news release said.

FERC staffers did recommend that the export facility developers get a FERC declaratory order to formally affirm that the facility was nonjurisdictional, but the project did not follow through on that recommendation. "[T]here was no follow up efforts made by FERC," the release said. "Nor was there disclosure to the public of the details of the meeting and/or why FERC was choosing not to exercise jurisdiction."

By not disclosing, FERC avoided facing any challenges to the jurisdictional determination, the Delaware Riverkeeper argued.

FERC declined to comment on the release.

"This is an all too familiar, and yet still shocking display of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acting as an agency for the gas industry rather than a representative of the people and the rule of law," Maya van Rossum, leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper, said in the news release.

The conservation group has pushed back against this project, arguing that adequate information on this project was not provided to the public and that the facility may harm the river and surrounding communities.

On May 24, the Delaware Riverkeeper requested the nonpublic documents on the project. Following FERC's refusal to approve the request, the Office of General Counsel ruled in favor of the environmental group's appeal on the port facility under development by the Delaware River Partners LLC near Philadelphia.

The Delaware River Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In June, the Delaware River Basin Commission approved the permit for the port, which would export LNG derived from natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. The commission represents the governors of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York and the division engineer of the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network attempted to persuade the commission to revise its approval of the export project on July 12. The Delaware River Basin Commission unanimously agreed on Sept. 11 to approve the Delaware Riverkeeper's request for a rehearing. The group has been trying to push the commission to reconsider its approval of a proposed New Jersey LNG facility.

New Fortress Energy, a public company and a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group LLC, is a potential customer of the Gibbstown Logistics Center.