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North American pipeline giants Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) and Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission not to apply a tough new climate standard to pipeline and liquefied natural gas projects already under review, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Subjecting projects in the late stages of development to new reviews of their greenhouse gas emissions “violates basic tenets of fairness and due process” and could stop projects cold, Kinder Morgan said in a letter to FERC.
Kinder Morgan has two projects awaiting FERC approval: constructing or modifying three compressor stations on pipelines in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and building 13 miles of new pipeline and two new compressor stations on its Louisiana and Mississippi gas pipeline network.
Any project expected to emit 100K metric tons/year of CO2 equivalent emissions “will be deemed to have a significant impact on climate change,” part of FERC’s much steeper rules than previously were applied.
FERC commissioners voted last month to require developers of gas pipelines and LNG terminals to consider not only their own project’s emissions but those of the customers receiving their gas, potentially affecting nearly 13B cubic feet of new natural gas capacity in the U.S.
