Underground Construction - February 2018 - 9

that with the applicants' implementation of their respective impact avoidance, minimization and
mitigation measures, as well as
their adherence to the measures
we have required to further avoid,
minimize and mitigate these impacts, operating the SMP Project
would not result in a significant
impact on the environment."
On November 20, 2017, eight
Florida Riverkeeper groups
criticized the supplemental EIS
(SEIS) on grounds that it still failed
to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from the project and that
the FERC ignored changes in the
Florida picture with regard to the
need for additional natural gas in
the state. The eight called the SEIS
"incorrect and inadequate." The
SEIS was also criticized by two
Democratic U.S. senators, who
faulted FERC for not using what is

called "the social cost of carbon"
method to estimate greenhouse
gas emissions. The SCC was developed by an interagency federal
working group and has been used
in more than 75 federal rulemakings since 2010, according to
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
and Michael Bennet (Colo.).
Republican Senator Criticizes
FERC on LNG Export
Terminal Approval
While Democratic senators
are pressing FERC to be more
exacting on EIS for new pipelines,
Republican senators are pressing
the commission to move faster
on EIS for liquid natural gas (LNG)
projects. At hearings in the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources
committee in December, Sen.
Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) asked

an FERC official why the agency
had not completed a single final
or draft EIS for an LNG project in
2017. Gardner noted there are
11 major LNG export projects
awaiting FERC action, including the Jordan Cove project in
Oregon, which Gardner said
was important to Colorado gas
producers as a potential outlet to
markets in Asia.
Gardner argued that Jordan
Cove has been subjected to a
"tough, long FERC approval process made even more complex
and rigorous by road blocks the
agency has put in place." He
emphasized that LNG export was
becoming more important for
his state as the Midwest becomes
more developed, presumably
receiving shale gas from Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the
East, resulting in Colorado losing

Midwest markets and Rockies
gas becoming "more stranded."
He noted the importance of Far
East markets such as South Korea,
Taiwan and Japan, which have
all expressed interest in stable
sources of natural gas. Gardner
noted it is in the U.S.'s interest to
serve those markets so they do
not become reliant on China for
supply.
Terry Turpin, director, Office
of Energy Projects at the FERC,
responded that FERC's environmental review is beholden to the
Department of Transportation,
which has a voice in the siting of
LNG facilities. The DOT has had to
re-examine its regulations as LNG
facilities have shifted from importing natural gas to exporting.
"Having DOT put the resources
toward getting those things
solved is vital," Turpin said. ■

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Underground Construction - February 2018

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