Emboldened by White House support of LNG developments, Kimmeridge has requested that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fast track its project after a court returned it to the agency.

Kimmeridge’s Commonwealth LNG submitted a four-page request April 23 requesting FERC expedite its construction permit, which is currently in limbo following an order by the Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit. The FERC must respond to the court for the permit to move forward.

The agency is scheduled to release its response to the court in July. Commonwealth seeks a release by June.

Commonwealth argued that speeding up the release is in line with President Donald Trump’s energy policies, according to the letter from CEO Farhad Ahrabi.

“Accelerated issuance of the final order also would be very beneficial to Commonwealth’s efforts to reach a positive final investment decision for the project and commence construction as soon as possible,” Ahrabi said.

The LNG development pause during the Biden administration and the court’s permit remand have cost Commonwealth millions of dollars and put the potential jobs at the plant at risk, Ahrabi said. The facility would be located on the southwest Louisiana Gulf Coast.

In July 2024, the D.C. court of appeals remanded Commonwealth’s FERC permits back to the agency after environmental organizations filed a protest.

The decision was part of an active summer for the court, which sent permits back to the FERC on three different LNG projects and a pipeline capacity expansion by Williams Cos. in the mid-Atlantic.

All of the court’s remands asked the FERC to reconsider how it graded the facilities’ environmental impact statements. The court wanted the FERC to consider the significance of the petrochemical projects' greenhouse gas emissions.

The court also asked the FERC to reconsider its methodology for Commonwealth’s cumulative air impacts for 1-hour nitrogen dioxide emissions—one of the standards measured in an environmental impact statement.

Commonwealth maintained in its request letter that both issues have been resolved by the FERC in other cases and should no longer be obstacles.

The FERC would make the changes through a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS).

Tom Sharp, an Arbo analyst who tracks legal actions in the energy sector, said speeding up the FERC’s schedule is not easy and depends on the progress of staff.

“While Commonwealth asserts that no genuine issues remain, FERC will still need to make that determination for itself after considering the comments on the draft SEIS that several parties filed,” Sharp said in an email to Hart Energy.

The intense focus of environmental groups on LNG projects also means that FERC’s eventual response will receive attention from groups who may want to challenge it again.

“FERC is generally reluctant to grant expedited timeline requests,” Sharp said.

At the same time, FERC Chairman Mark Christie has also stated that he wants to expedite proceedings on gas-related projects, Sharp said.

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