As part of a broader
effort to further inform decisions related to
LNG exports, the Department of Energy
commissioned NERA Economic Consulting to conduct
a third party study in order to gain a better
understanding of how U.S. LNG exports could
affect the public interest, with an emphasis on
the energy and manufacturing sectors. The
Department is releasing that study and making it
available for public review and comment. As this
is not a Department of Energy product, the
Department will be conducting its own review of
the study as well as consideration of relevant
comments made throughout the process prior to
making final determinations.
Federal law generally
requires approval of natural gas exports to
countries that have a free trade agreement with
the United States. For countries that do not
have a free trade agreement with the U.S., the
Department of Energy is required to grant
applications for export authorizations unless
the Department finds that the proposed exports
"will not be consistent with the public
interest." Factors for consideration include
economic, energy security, and environmental
impacts.
On December 5,
2012, the Department of Energy’s Office of
Fossil Energy posted the final NERA report into
the 15 pending export application dockets, and
invites the public to provide comment. The
report and resulting comments will be taken into
consideration as the Department makes its public
interest determinations in each case. The
Department will accept initial comments on the
report for 45 days after the official notice of
the study appears in the Federal Register. Reply
comments will be accepted for a period of 30
days, beginning on the day after the conclusion
of the initial comment period. All comments
received need only be submitted once as they
will be placed in the administrative record for
each of the 15 currently pending export
application dockets.
Following the closing of
the reply comment period, the Department of
Energy will begin to act on the 15 applications
on a case-by-case basis. The study released
today will be one of the inputs considered
during evaluation of those applications. The
Energy Department expects to act first upon
applications for which the applicants have
commenced the pre-filing process at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as of
December 5, 2012, in the general order in which
the Department received them. Following
disposition of those applications that have
pre-filed with FERC, the Energy Department
expects to act upon the rest of the pending
applications – and any others submitted - in the
order received.