eLibrary Is Now FERC’s Official Document Repository

On July 16, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the “Commission”) announced that “documents posted on [the FERC’s] eLibrary [website] will serve as the Commission’s official order and/or Commission action, and eLibrary will serve as the Commission’s repository for the official record of Commission proceedings, including filings and Commission issuances. ”This also “applies to orders and notices issued by the Office of the Secretary, as well as to delegated orders and notices.” The announcement changes FERC’s prior policy, announced in 2002, that “[t]he signed paper copy [of a Commission issuance would be] the official copy of record,” accessible by request in FERC’s Public Reference Room. While this policy change is unlikely to affect how most FERC practitioners, regulated entities, the public and other interested parties currently access FERC documents, it comes at a time of increasing consternation among some eLibrary users regarding the site’s availability—especially on evenings and weekends—and usability, despite the vast improvement in document access via eLibrary compared to the Federal Energy Regulatory Records Information System (FERRIS), that preceded it.