Department of Energy July 25, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is revising its regulations to provide that DOE will issue an export authorization upon receipt of any complete application that seeks to export natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), to countries with which the United States has not entered into a free trade agreement (FTA) requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas and with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy (non-FTA countries), provided that the application satisfies the following two criteria: The application proposes to export natural gas in a volume up to and including 51.75 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per year (Bcf/yr) (equivalent to 0.14 Bcf per day (Bcf/d)), and DOE's approval of the application does not require an environmental impact statement (EIS) or an environmental assessment (EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Applications that satisfy these criteria are requesting authorization for ``small-scale natural gas exports,'' and DOE deems such exports to be consistent with the public interest under the Natural Gas Act (NGA). DOE's regulations regarding notice of applications and procedures conducted on applications do not apply to applications that satisfy these criteria. This regulation is intended to expedite DOE's processing of these applications and reduce administrative burdens for the small-scale natural gas export market.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting its information collection, FERC-585 (Reporting of Electric Energy Shortages and Contingency Plans Under PURPA Section 206) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission previously issued a Notice in the Federal Register on April 12, 2018, requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments on the FERC-585 and is making this notation in its submittal to OMB.