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FERC Proposes NEPA Revisions to Streamline Air Quality Analyses and Accelerate Natural Gas Projects

LCG, October 16, 2026--The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced on Thursday its new proposal to revise and accelerate its review of air quality effects for proposed natural gas projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The draft policy statement highlights revisions designed to (i) avoid unnecessary delays and duplicative analysis and (ii) deliver greater regulatory certainty and a streamlined path forward for project applicants.

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AEP Announces 702-MW Bloom Fuel Cell Project to Serve Google in Wyoming

LCG, October 14, 2026--American Electric Power (AEP) today announced plans for a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Google, under which AEP will invest approximately $4 billion to advance a new 702-MW fuel cell generation project located near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Google will acquire power from Cheyenne Fuel Cell, LLC, which is approximately 92 percent owned and controlled by AEP and 8 percent owned by funds advised by Basalt Infrastructure Partners, LLP. AEP and its partners plan to start construction this year and to be fully operational by the end of 2028.

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Industry News

Edison International Unit's Controversial Plant Approved

LCG, Dec. 18, 2003--The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) gave approval on a four-to-one vote to a 1,054-megawatt power plant to be built by Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison International, under an arrangement the commission's president Michael Peevey said was a one-time deal "solely for this project at this time."

The Mountainview power plant will not operate as a regulated facility, but will be paid for by utility customers, who would also provide a specified profit on the investment. The project has elicited criticism from power producers as well as consumer groups, because the project was not the result of a competitive bidding process. Peevey himself backed the project, which he said was justified in being handled outside a normal competitive process. The commission president was president of Edison International and Southern California Edison in the early 1990s.

Former president of the CPUC Loretta Lynch dissented in the vote, and proposed that the plant instead be made a conventional utility-owned plant. The plant will operate under a 30-year contract signed by the utility, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has been asked to approve the contract within two months, would regulate the rates under the contract, rather than the CPUC. Lynch said that allowing customers to be exposed to volatile gas prices under a 30-year arrangement would pose too great a risk.

Peevey said, "No one wishes to make this structure the model for utilities acquiring generation projects." Commissioner Susan Kennedy voiced the opinion that the plant was needed to avert an energy crisis as soon as "three years from now."
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