Williams Cos. executives plan to seek an emergency operating permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) following the latest move by the Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit.

On Jan. 21, the D.C. court denied a petition from Williams’ subsidiary Transco to rehear an earlier decision that vacated the FERC permit for the Regional Energy Access (REA) project, a $950 million development that increased natural gas service to utilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. In all, the line runs through five mid-Atlantic states.

The court originally yanked the REA permit at the end of July. The judges wrote that the FERC failed to adequately consider greenhouse-gas emissions during the permitting process. The project began operations before the permits were vacated.

“REA remains a critical project that provides much-needed access to clean and reliable natural gas for consumers in the Northeast,” a spokesman for Williams told Hart Energy in a statement.

The court’s decision to not rehear the case means the certificates will officially be vacated on Jan. 28. However, Williams has filed with the FERC for an emergency permit that would allow operations on the line to continue.

The FERC is likely to grant the temporary certificate, said Tom Sharp, director of permitting intelligence for Arbo, a firm that tracks government-related energy issues. Arbo released a research note following the decision.

Sharp noted that three of FERC’s two Democratic commissioners criticized the court’s decision during the agency’s public hearing in September.

“Since two of the three Democratic Commissioners discussed the project unprompted, it improves the odds of FERC potentially granting” REA’s request for a temporary emergency certificate, he said.

Another circumstance favoring Williams: The project is already operational, and halting shipment of natural gas on the line that is integrated with existing infrastructure would affect thousands of customers in the region. Transco has warned that taking the REA offline would cut natural gas delivery into the area by 22.6% and poses risks to customers who rely on the fuel to provide heat during winter storms.

“In numerous prior cases in which a federal circuit court has vacated a certificate for an ‘in-service’ pipeline, FERC has issued a temporary certificate to prevent disruption in service to customers who use the capacity,” Williams said in its statement.

If the emergency permit is granted, there is no specific timeline the agency has to follow to resolve the issue, Sharp said, meaning the process could continue for months.

In parallel with the action at the FERC, Williams could also file a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court. A writ of certiorari is a legal document that asks a higher court to review a lower court’s decision.

The Supreme Court agrees to hear about 1% of requests annually, meaning that the chances the case would be taken up are slim, Sharp said. However, the high court may grant a stay of a few weeks or months while it reviews the petition.

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