PUC Commissioner takes on FERC LNG Decision

California Public Utilities Commissioner Loretta Lynch is taking on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to Gas Daily over a proposed LNG terminal in Long Beach:

The California Public Utilities Commission is unified in its stance that FERC doesn't have exclusive jurisdiction over the proposed Sound Energy Solutions liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Beach, Commissioner Loretta Lynch told Gas Daily on Monday.

All five members of the often-divided state commission agree that "it's such an extraordinary overreaching by FERC" to proclaim sole authority, Lynch said in an interview. While FERC has acknowledged that the LNG from the terminal would travel through intrastate pipelines and only be sold within the state, it "nonetheless pre-empted California in its entirety," she said.

FERC hinged its position on Natural Gas Act section 3 language dealing with import facilities and a 1974 D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that provided that FERC could impose on imports the equivalent of section 7 certification requirements. But section 3 "very clearly shows a state role and very clearly, from my perspective, by the absence of any language does not show a federal role," Lynch insisted.

To translate into simple English: California wants authority over siting of LNG terminals in California. Simple enough.