Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Pres. Donald F. Santa expressed disappointment on Aug. 24 with the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia’s decision days earlier to vacate the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of three Southeastern US natural gas pipelines (OGJ Online, Aug. 23, 2017).
“While INGAA disagrees with the majority’s conclusion that downstream power plant greenhouse-gas emissions are an indirect effect of authorizing the project, we recognize that FERC has the opportunity to seek additional review of this decision,” Santa said.
He noted that Judge Janice Rogers Brown “issued a strong and well-reasoned dissent on the question of whether FERC's National Environmental Policy Act analysis of indirect impacts must include an analysis of downstream GHG emissions.”
Santa said the Sierra Club, which brought the lawsuit, challenged several other aspects of the court’s Aug. 22 order. “However, the court found that FERC acted properly with respect to all other aspects of FERC’s order,” he said. “This includes the NEPA analysis of environmental justice impacts of the project, alternatives and safety considerations, as well as the initial rates and market need finding.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
