Description: Challenge to approvals for the Evangeline Pass Expansion Project, which included pipeline expansion and which would enable provision of firm natural gas transportation service to a liquefied natural gas export facility in southeast Louisiana.
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Alabama Municipal Distributors Group v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 04/30/2024 Opinion Download Petitions for review denied. D.C. Circuit Rejected Challenges to FERC’s NEPA Review of Natural Gas Infrastructure. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) properly applied the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the Evangeline Pass Expansion Project, which included expanded pipelines, compression facilities, and meter stations in the southeastern United States to transport more natural gas. First, the court found that the environmental impact statement did not exclude “connected” actions, rejecting the petitioner’s claim that the NEPA review’s scope should have included four other natural gas projects. Second, the court agreed with FERC that NEPA did not require consideration of indirect environmental effects of exported gas that would flow through the project’s pipeline system. The court reasoned that Congress gave export authorization to the U.S. Department of Energy, not FERC, and cited precedent holding that FERC did not have to consider indirect effects of actions beyond its delegated authority. Third, the D.C. Circuit ruled that FERC was not required to use the social cost of carbon tool. The D.C. Circuit also found that FERC reasonably denied municipal petitioners’ request for a future credit on existing rates. 06/01/2023 Letter Download Response filed by petitioners to FERC's supplemental authority (Center for Biological Diversity v. FERC, No. 20-1379 (D.C. Cir. May 16, 2023). 05/25/2023 Letter Download Supplemental authority submitted by FERC (Center for Biological Diversity v. FERC, No. 20-1379 (D.C. Cir. May 16, 2023). 03/29/2023 Reply Download Reply brief filed by municipal petitioners. 03/29/2023 Reply Download Reply brief filed by Sierra Club and Healthy Gulf. 03/08/2023 Brief Download Brief filed by respondent-intervenors Southern Natural Gas, L.L.C. et al. 02/22/2023 Brief Download Brief filed by respondent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 12/22/2022 Brief Download Opening brief filed by petitioners Sierra Club and Healthy Gulf. 12/22/2022 Brief Download Opening brief filed by municipal petitioners. 06/07/2022 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. -
Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 07/25/2022 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. -
Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/04/2022 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. -
Alabama Municipal Distributors Group v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/26/2022 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed.