Federal Court Decision Means FERC Must Revisit MVP and ACP Climate Analyses

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Sierra Club and its partners filed two letters with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) arguing that body must do new analyses of two fracked gas pipelines. While FERC has already issued Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), neither sufficiently considered the pipelines’ impacts, including the long-term effects of the greenhouse gases produced from burning the gas transported by these pipelines. Recently, a federal court ruled that FERC’s analysis of the Sabal Trail Pipeline failed to consider the “downstream” greenhouse gas and climate impacts from burning that pipeline’s gas, and required the agency to go back and conduct a review that does so. FERC’s environmental impact statements for both the ACP and MVP, which are also inadequate, were done prior to that ruling.  Before deciding whether to approve or deny the pipelines, the agency must do additional environmental review for both pipelines.

In response, Kelly Martin, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, released the following statement:

"The court’s ruling was crystal clear. FERC’s past reviews of fracked gas pipelines have been woefully inadequate. As a result, the agency has rubberstamped dirty projects that pumped dangerous pollutants into our communities and disrupted our climate. These unneeded fracked gas pipelines are relics of the last century’s energy production and it’s time FERC catches up to the rest of the world. It’s time for FERC to be honest about what we have known for decades - these fracked gas pipelines are a threat to our lives, our communities and our planet.”