On May 4, 2020, FERC released an interview with its Pandemic Liaison Caroline Wozniak as its second coronavirus podcast. Ms. Wozniak provided insight into her role in FERC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and explained that the pandemic liaison is intended to serve as a single point of contact for FERC’s regulated entities to ask questions and receive guidance. Ms. Wozniak stated that she has received over 70 inquiries from regulated entities. Her team distributes inquiries to the appropriate members of FERC’s staff and aims to respond within 1-2 business days, if not the same day. In response to common questions that Ms. Wozniak and her team have received, Ms. Wozniak clarified that:

• FERC has waived requirements that certain filings be supported by a sworn declaration and requirements to provide or obtain notarized documents.
• FERC’s April 2, 2020 Business Continuity Energy Infrastructure Policy Statement (see April 2, 2020 edition of the WER) is intended to be broadly applicable to all FERC regulated industries which may incur additional costs in response to the emergency. Ms. Wozniak stated that FERC intentionally did not list the types of costs that entities may seek to recover, as it did not want to unduly limit what types of cost can be recovered under the policy statement.
• FERC continues to accept hard copy submissions of filings, but those filings must be delivered via a commercial mail or delivery service. FERC is closed the public and is not accepting couriers or hand-deliveries. FERC prefers that entities file electronically where possible.

The interview is available here. Further information regarding FERC’s COVID-19 response can be found at FERC’s website. Industry stakeholders in need of information may contact the FERC Pandemic Liaison’s team at PandemicLiaison@ferc.gov.