On August 15, 2014, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy announced its Procedures for Liquefied Natural Gas Export Decisions (Procedures). Pursuant to these Procedures, DOE will act on applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the lower-48 states to non-FTA countries only after the review required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has been completed, suspending its practice of issuing conditional decisions prior to final authorization decisions.

These Procedures will not affect the continued validity of the conditional orders DOE has already issued. For those applications, DOE will proceed as explained in the conditional orders: when the NEPA review process for those projects is complete, DOE will reconsider the conditional authorization in light of the information gathered in the environmental review and take appropriate final action.

On May 29, 2014, DOE announced the proposed procedural changes. In response to this proposal, any person had the opportunity to file comments. The comment period closed on July 21, 2014. All comments have been posted to the “Comments” link below.