The State of Wyoming is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its rejection of an Oregon project that would export liquefied natural gas.
FERC rejected the Jordan Cove permit application in March because the project’s backers didn’t have any confirmed buyers for the LNG. The project would require running a new, 230-mile pipeline across Oregon and the Commission said without buyers, the harm to landowners couldn’t be justified.
The State of Wyoming is asking the Commission to consider leaving the permit decision open, in the event the company can get buyers in the future. The state wrote inits petition that the terminal could provide an important new market for the state’s gas.
“Gas flows out of Wyoming to the east and it flows out to the west, and we’ve got pipeline capacity to go both directions, but with the growth of production in Pennsylvania and Ohio, a lot of the market that we have served traditionally in the Midwest is being taken away by that production that’s closer to it,” Wyoming Pipeline Authority director Brian Jeffries explained.
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper also asked for the Commission to reconsider, although his office did not file a formal petition.
The Commission is expected to respond to the State’s appeal by May 11.