New Fortress Energy Must Face FERC Regulation Over San Juan Pipe

New Fortress Energy’s Puerto Rico facility is subject to FERC regulation as a liquefied natural gas terminal, the D.C. Circuit said in a Tuesday ruling rejecting the company’s argument that a pipe at the facility doesn’t qualify as a pipeline.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates natural gas facilities under the Natural Gas Act that receive or send out gas by pipeline, but New Fortress Energy told the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the facility’s 75-foot pipe isn’t a pipeline.

FERC disagreed, saying the facility is connected to a pipeline because the pipe sends ...