In his first public comments on LNG and pipeline permits recently vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said the court had erred in its rulings.

Since the end of July, the D.C. appeals court has vacated three FERC permits, all for reasons related to how the FERC determines the effect of greenhouse-gas emissions on communities near the projects.

The two LNG projects in South Texas are NextDecade’s Rio Grande and Glenfarne’s Texas LNG export facilities. The third, Transco’s Regional Energy Access (REA) project, had already started operations when the court vacated the permit in July.

The FERC has already taken actions in moving towards a re-hearing for the Transco mid-Atlantic natural gas pipeline project’s permit.

“While I’m not going to prejudge what we will say in that particular proceeding, I want to make clear that I think the court erred in vacating our authorization,” FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said during a press conference following the agency’s monthly public meeting on Sept. 19. “Transco took steps to build out its system and began serving its customers based on the commission’s authorization.”

Phillips said vacating the permit after startup is a disruptive ruling that threatens the affordability and reliability of natural gas customers in the region, “who would desperately need it this winter.”

If the REA is taken offline, Transco’s capacity to deliver natural gas to the area would decline by 22.6%, Williams Cos., which owns Transco, told Hart Energy.

He added that the court had undergone a transformation from the beginning of the year.

Phillips referred to an appeals court ruling made in February regarding a petition brought against a FERC permit for the Alaska LNG project.

The three-judge panel ruled to keep the permits valid, even though petitioners brought similar arguments as those used against Texas and Rio Grande LNG, Phillips said.

“This is a shift. This is a complete change,” Phillips said.

Following the ruling, Williams Cos. filed for an emergency permit from the FERC to continue operations. Transco also filed for a re-hearing on the project, which Williams said would most likely happen around August 2025.

“Chairman Philips’ comments today underscore the urgent need for maintaining reliable energy supply in densely populated market areas in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware,” Williams Cos. said in a statement sent to Hart Energy.

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