Circuit Court Quashes Transco Project
A late July appellate court decision has sent the horrendously destructive Transco pipeline project back to the drafting table.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit overturned a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of the plan to expand pipeline and compressor capacity in five states, including New Jersey, to allow for the pumping of an additional 829 million cubic feet per day of fracked gas.
The petition against Transco’s (Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.) Regional Energy Access Expansion project was led by the Sierra Club and other leading environmental groups and joined by NJ state government, including the Division of Rate Counsel.
“This is a major victory for the climate, clean air and water, and New Jersey residents on the ground who have organized and opposed this project for years,” said Sierra Club NJ Chapter Director Anjuli Ramos-Busot. This decision also helps ensure that future proposals for unneeded and harmful pipeline projects are not given the green light without the proper vetting.
Judge J. Michelle Childs, writing the opinion for the DC Circuit, said that FERC had simply not considered the enormous emissions impact of the pipeline and had not accounted for laws in New Jersey that require reductions in gas consumption.
The pipeline project threatened to destabilize the climate even more and undermine New Jersey’s efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependence and achieve a clean energy transition. A state study indicated New Jersey already has a sufficient natural gas supply, although FERC had accepted Transco’s argument that the pipeline project was essential to ensure reliable gas supplies during winter peak periods and that consumers might even see lower gas prices.
The project would have encompassed modifications and construction in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, the Transco project called for a new compressor station in Gloucester County and the addition of gas-fired compressor units at existing stations in Somerset County.
The New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), which so far has failed to square its policies with the environmental realities of rapid climate change and global warming, called the circuit court’s opinion “ideological.” The Sierra Club encourages NJBIA to recalibrate its stance given the disastrous effects of fossil fuel use and the undeniably urgent need to switch to sustainable energy.
Possible Appeal
Transco said it would not give up on the project, and an appeal to the Supreme Court is a possibility; however, the appellate court decision sends Transco back to square one on any revised FERC application, which would have to respect the appellate court’s objections to the pipeline plan.
Sierra Club and Food & Water Watch were represented by Earthjustice in the lawsuit challenging FERC’s approval of the project. Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, were represented by in-house counsel.