The top U.S. energy regulator is moving to establish a new greenhouse gas emissions standard that would subject proposed interstate natural gas pipelines to more stringent environmental reviews, while allowing other projects to proceed with a quicker review, the agency’s chairman said Tuesday.
The emissions standard would serve as a dividing line between environmental assessments, which often take weeks or months, and environmental impact statements, which can take years, Richard Glick, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The standard would allow the commission to provide more regulatory certainty for pipeline developers ...