FERC proposes change to air-quality review for natural gas projects
A draft policy would stop requesting air-dispersion modeling in NEPA reviews; comments remain open.
Event / data period: 2026-10-15
Published: · Updated:
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a draft policy to change how it assesses air-quality effects in environmental reviews of projects under the Natural Gas Act. The October 15 proposal would stop requesting air-dispersion modeling from applicants and stop relying on those models to assess operational air effects under the National Environmental Policy Act.
FERC said it would instead use other information submitted by applicants and identified by staff, while continuing to disclose adverse effects in its environmental documents. The commission framed the change as reducing overlap with federal and state agencies that issue permits under the Clean Air Act. The policy is still a draft; interested parties may comment on its implementation through November 16, 2026.
Data
Draft air-quality policy for natural gas projects
FERC’s October 15 draft policy on air-quality review of natural gas projects under NEPA.
- · Occurred
Draft policy released
The commission proposed not using air-dispersion modeling in NEPA reviews of Natural Gas Act projects. Comments are due November 16, 2026.
Methodology
This block records FERC’s October 15 draft in docket PL26-3-000. It is not a measurement, observed impact or effective permitting standard.
Updated:
Subjects and places
Subject proposals
- Natural gasSuggested
- Subject suggested from the title or summary: natural gas, gas projectswww.ferc.gov ↗
Geographic references
Only source-provided geographic references are shown. Opening an external map is optional. Optional story maps use OpenStreetMap. Opening a map sends your IP address and this site’s address to the map provider; location data remains readable as text without loading the map.
- United States · Place role: Coverage · Place type: Country or area · Location precision: RegionalEvidence
- Explicit preserved editorial country/region; no city or national centroid inferredwww.ferc.gov ↗