FERC's staff-level environmental assessment for Transwestern Pipeline Company's Green Chile project does not itself authorize construction. The assessment concludes that building and operating the pipeline would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the human environment, but the Commission still has to weigh that finding against the project's economic case before it can grant a certificate.
Transwestern wants FERC's authorization to build and run about 17.77 miles of 24-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline, along with metering and regulating facilities and other appurtenances, in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The proceeding is docketed as CP26-80-000.
Project at a glance
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Project name | Green Chile Project |
| Applicant | Transwestern Pipeline Company, LLC |
| Pipeline length | 17.77 miles |
| Pipeline diameter | 24 inches |
| Location | Doña Ana County, New Mexico |
| FERC docket | CP26-80-000 |
| Comment deadline | 5:00 p.m. ET, October 5, 2026 |
Comment window
FERC staff prepared the environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act as part of the agency's review of the project. The assessment is meant to identify and weigh the project's potential effects on the natural and human environment, evaluate reasonable alternatives, and recommend ways to avoid or lessen those effects. Anyone who wants to comment has until 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on October 5, 2026, and the Commission said comments should focus on that discussion of effects, alternatives, and mitigation rather than on the project generally.
The Commission takes comments three ways: through its eComment tool for brief text-only submissions, through eFiling for comments filed with attachments, or by paper mail referencing docket CP26-80-000 to Secretary Debbie-Anne A. Reese, at FERC's Washington, DC address for U.S. Postal Service mail or its Rockville, Maryland address for any other carrier.
BLM's earlier review
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management took part in the FERC assessment as a cooperating agency, giving input on its conclusions and recommendations. The BLM had already completed its own environmental assessment of the project, DOI-BLM-NM-2026-0023-EA, with a Decision Record issued through U.S. Department of the Interior Secretarial approval on May 1, 2026.
That sequencing puts two separate environmental findings behind the Green Chile project before FERC's Commission takes up the part of its review that NEPA does not cover. Under section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act, the Commission decides whether the pipeline is required by the public convenience and necessity, a determination built on economic issues, including need, together with the environmental effects the assessment lays out.
