All regulations issued by FERC are based on laws passed by Congress. The Commission first examines the underlying law prior to developing regulations. The actual development of regulations and their modification is done through a rulemaking process. Each rulemaking is assigned a docket number beginning with "RM", for example RM02-16-000.
The Commission's staff usually holds public meetings with with those interested in the issues. After that, the Commission develops the proposed rule or regulations and issues a "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" (NOPR), which is published in the Federal Register.
The NOPR contains the text of the proposed regulations and an extensive preamble. The preamble explains the Commission's rationale for the proposed regulations.
The public then comments on the NOPR. All comments are then considered by the Commission before it finalizes the rulemaking. The Commission then issues the final rulemaking containing the new changes. These are also published in the Federal Register. After about 45-60 days, the new regulations take effect.
