Sierra Club Files Comments on FERC’s Attempt to Dodge Thorough Environmental Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Just a few months after winning the landmark Sabal Trail case, the Sierra Club filed comments slamming the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for failing to comply with the court’s decision. After the U.S. District Court of Appeals ruled FERC failed to adequately review the environmental impacts of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the fracked gas Sabal Trail pipeline, FERC rushed through a skeletal analysis in an attempt to assuage the court. A much more rigorous review is necessary. Burning the gas transported by this pipeline will emit millions of tons per year of carbon dioxide, increasing Florida's greenhouse gas emissions by almost 10%. The pipeline’s downstream combustion emissions are equivalent to the GHG emissions from 5.5 coal-burning power plants or 4,732,334 passenger vehicles driven for one year. An increase of this magnitude is hardly the insignificant bump FERC writes it off to be.

In response, Sierra Club Staff Attorney Elly Benson released the following statement:

"Burning the gas delivered by this pipeline will emit carbon dioxide equivalent to 9.7 percent of Florida’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This is a startlingly large number for a single project. FERC’s casual dismissal of the Sabal Trail Pipeline’s climate impacts is completely at odds with common sense or accepted science. And its refusal to measure the impact of these emissions using the widely accepted ‘social cost of carbon’ framework shows that FERC wants to avoid doing even the bare minimum of acceptable analysis. Other courts have repeatedly rejected agency attempts to ignore the social cost of carbon. FERC must conduct a comprehensive analysis rather than avoiding disclosure of the true climate impacts of the fracked gas Sabal Trail Pipeline."