When FERC Saved Its Most Successful Action In History—From Itself

In the December 2025 issue of Climate and Energy, NERA Senior Managing Director Jeff D. Makholm explores the 1999 Certificate Policy Statement on interstate natural gas pipelines.

On 12 September 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) terminated a Notice of Inquiry that it had opened in 2018 regarding interstate natural gas pipelines—a momentous action by the agency. The FERC left standing its extraordinary 1999 Certificate Policy Statement, which capped two decades of hard work for the entire US natural gas industry. It illustrates how readily such effectiveness can be undone when those seeking to expand regulatory powers blur longstanding legislative limits in the pursuit of new public policies.