Commissioner James Danly Statement
November 18, 2022
CP15-490-003
I concur in the Commission’s decision to grant the request filed by Delfin LNG LLC (Delfin) for a one-year extension of time,[1] until September 28, 2023, to construct and place into service the onshore metering, compression, and piping facilities authorized by the Commission in its September 28, 2017 order.[2]
As today’s order recognizes, “[e]xtension of time proceedings are not an invitation to re-open the underlying dockets.”[3] Our inquiry when reviewing a request for extension of time is narrow—it is not an opportunity to revisit the determinations made in Natural Gas Act authorizations after orders have become final and unappealable.[4] There is thus no question of whether the public interest determination made in the Certificate Order remains valid. Instead, it is a question of whether there is good cause to grant the extension of time, and Delfin has indeed demonstrated good cause for the requested extension.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] See Delfin LNG LLC July 15, 2022 Request for Extension of Time.
[2] Delfin LNG LLC, 160 FERC ¶ 61,130 (2017) (Certificate Order).
[3] Delfin LNG LLC, 181 FERC ¶ 61,144, at P 17 (2022) (citation omitted).
[4] See Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage III, LLC, 179 FERC ¶ 61,087, at P 15 (2022) (“extension of time proceedings are not an invitation to re-open the dockets”) (citations omitted); see also Nat’l Fuel Gas Supply Corp., 179 FERC ¶ 61,226, at P 20 (2022) (“Rule 716 does not provide the Commission with additional authority to reopen the record underlying the Certificate Order here, where a final, non-appealable order has issued.”) (citations omitted); id. (Danly, Comm’r, concurring at P 5) (“Circumstances, no matter how extraordinary, cannot themselves grant jurisdiction where Congress has conferred no power. In the absence of authority provided by Congress, the Commission simply cannot revisit its public convenience and necessity determinations once a certificate order becomes final and unappealable.”).