Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has announced a webinar and published in the Federal Register information of a webinar on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR—commonly referred to by other federal agencies as an ‘NPRM’) for applications of permits to site interstate electric transmission facilities. The NOPR/NPRM proposes a change in FERC’s policy to eliminate a one-year delay following submission of a state application before FERC’s mandatory pre-filing process can commence. This proposal would allow the simultaneous processing of state applications and FERC pre-filing proceedings, which seems to be an effort to streamline the siting process and could potentially affect Tribal Nations.
Additionally, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58) requires FERC to determine that a permit holder, “has made good faith efforts to engage with landowners and other stakeholders early in the applicable permitting process”, as a precondition to the permit holder acquiring the necessary right-of-way by eminent domain. The draft NOPR/NPRM proposes that one way for an applicant to demonstrate that it has met the “good faith efforts” standard is to elect to comply with an Applicant Code of Conduct in its communications with affected landowners. The Applicant Code of Conduct includes certain recordkeeping and information-sharing requirements for engagement with affected landowners, as well as more general prohibitions against certain misconduct in such engagement.
Details regarding the upcoming webinar are as follows—
For more information on this NOPR/NPRM, please visit FERC’s website by clicking here or by viewing the Federal Register Notice publication by clicking here. Comments are due on Monday, April 17, 2023 and can be submitted to ferc.gov under Docket ID No. RM22-7-000. Questions regarding this webinar and proceeding should be directed to Keith Masill, Deputy Director of State, International and Tribal Affairs, at Keith.Masill@ferc.gov, or by calling (202) 503-6850.
For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.
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