Texas-Mexico Pipeline Sparks Court Confusion Over FERC Authority

The D.C. Circuit on Thursday struggled with how to determine if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appropriately limited its review to a small section of a larger gas pipeline project from Texas to the Mexican border.

The panel’s questions focused on at what point FERC might have jurisdiction over a pipeline going through the US into another country, with no clear answers from counsel.

“What is the test that we or whoever are supposed to apply to decide when it stops being the export facility and starts being an interstate pipeline or something else?” Judge Patricia A. Millett asked petitioners’ ...