FERC Orders Vacated in Favor of Client

• Client: Washington Gas Light Company
• Date: July 2008
• Location: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Summary:

Schiff Hardin successfully appealed two adverse Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Of Columbia Circuit on behalf of our client, Washington Gas Light Company (WGL).

Our attorneys challenged two FERC orders approving a proposal to double the size of the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in southern Maryland. Washington Gas Light Company claimed that it would receive dramatically increased deliveries of LNG if the expansion was placed in service, even if WGL did not choose to purchase any LNG. Our client also claimed that the increased deliveries of LNG would cause increased leak rates throughout its system and that FERC had ignored this safety issue.

The court vacated FERC's orders on the grounds that the record did not demonstrate that WGL will be able to address the leak problem prior to the in-service date of the expansion facilities. The case has been remanded to FERC to further address whether the Cove Point expansion can go forward without causing unsafe leakage on our client's local distribution system.

Obtaining the vacation of FERC orders under these circumstances is particularly challenging, and Schiff Hardin's Energy and Public Utilities lawyers brought their deep regulatory experience and knowledge to bear on behalf of our client.

Washington Gas Light Co. v. FERC, 532 F.3d 928 (D.C. Cir. 2008)