As we get closer and closer to a possible decision from FERC on the PennEast pipeline project, I’ve been gorging on FERC decisions to look for patterns and try to gain an understanding of what is common practice for FERC (and what isn’t).  To help automate this, I developed the Ferkee Alert! system (or just Ferkee for short).  What Ferkee does is scrape the ferc.gov web site hunting for new Pipeline decisions.  These could be certificate orders, or acceptance/denial of rehearing on a pipeline application, or similar major order from FERC.  When one pops into the system, an email alert is sent out that looks like this:

This works kind of like the eLibrary system for FERC, but it covers all natural gas pipeline decisions.  Alerts happen within 60 seconds or less of being posted on the ferc site.  For each new decision found, it prints the docket number, a link to the full decision, and the text of the first page of the order.

The above example shows two types of orders.  The first on docket CP17-24-000, shows an order of FERC changing a Certificate order and Presidential Permit.  In this case the pipeline company asked for an amendment to increase the size of its system – FERC of course said “sure thing, rock on dudes!”.

The second on docket CP16-486-000 is a Certificate Order for the Millennium Pipeline Eastern System Upgrade Project.  If/when a decision on PennEast happens, the alert will look like this but on the PennEast docket number CP15-558-000.

This is currently experimental alpha-level software still under development.  If you’d like to be a trial user, shoot an email to ferkeebot@gmail.com and we’ll sign you up.  Future versions will allow self-service signup, more control over the kind of decisions you get alerts on, and alternative alert channels (e.g. maybe texts).

Many thanks to Lorraine Crown for coming up with the name Ferkee, it’s a perfect fit!