DOE Seeks Comments on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Small-Scale Natural Gas Export

On September 1, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise regulations on export authorizations for natural gas. The proposed rule would allow DOE to issue an export authorization upon receipt of any complete application seeking to export natural gas, including liquefied natural gas, to countries with which the U.S. has not entered into a free trade agreement, provided that the application satisfies the following criteria: (1) the application proposes to export natural gas in a volume up to and including 0.14 billion cubic feet per day, and (2) DOE’s approval of the application does not require an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Protection Act. DOE states that the regulation is intended to expedite the processing of these applications.