States Join Environmental Advocates Against FERC Decision to Circumvent Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Yesterday, Earthjustice, on behalf of the Sierra Club, filed a brief contesting FERC’s new policy, announced in a 3-2 decision this May, that it would stop analyzing the full range of climate impacts of gas pipeline projects. FERC’s new policy circumvents the D.C. Circuit’s holding in Sierra Club’s successful Sabal Trail case that downstream greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting climate impacts of a gas pipeline constitute indirect effects that must be analyzed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Sierra Club v. FERC, 867 F.3d 1357, 1374 (D.C. Cir. 2017). Six states and the District of Columbia filed a similar brief the same day. The states are New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon.

While this case is limited to the New Market Project that would expand a fracked gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to upstate New York, the same Commissioners who voted for the new policy have applied it to other pipeline projects. If successful, the briefs will help stop FERC from applying its unlawful policy any further.   

In response, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Director Kelly Martin released the following statement:

"It is a shame that climate action advocates and states have to go to court to force a Federal agency to follow a court order, but here we are. FERC isn’t adhering to the court’s decision that directs them to consider the negative climate impacts of fracked gas pipelines, and is putting the health of our climate and communities at risk.”

Meagan M. Burton, Senior Associate Attorney for Earthjustice, said:

“The devastating effects of climate change already are being felt and drastic changes must be made to avoid catastrophic environmental impacts. It is unacceptable that FERC--the federal agency responsible for reviewing fossil fuel projects that will emit millions of tons of greenhouse gases per year--is abdicating its responsibility to evaluate the real amount of dangerous climate-forcing gases its projects will produce. The Commission must apply the tools it has at its disposal and analyze how emissions from gas infrastructure projects will contribute to the problem of climate change.”