The D.C. Circuit Confirms: FERC Shouldn’t Just Ignore Downstream Emissions in its NEPA Documents

Jamison Colburn climate change, FERC, fracking, pipelines , , , ,

The big word from the D.C. Circuit just out yesterday in Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 2017 WL 3597014 (D.C. Cir. 2017), is this: “downstream” emissions in pipeline approvals—the emissions that will or may occur as a result of the pipeline’s operation—cannot just be categorically excluded from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) NEPA […]

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Williams & Co. Stumble in Pipeline Project: Did NYS Just Create a Playbook?

Jamison Colburn Army Corps of Engineers, CWA Section 401, FERC, fracking, pipelines , , ,

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is the authorized agency implementing New York’s Clean Water Act water quality standards. The extraordinary thing about these standards is that federal projects that might violate those standards cannot just be waived through by a federal agency in control. Only the authorized state can do that […]

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The Fracking EIS in NY: The Empire State’s ‘Little NEPA’ Lands a Big Punch

Jamison Colburn fracking, oil, uncategorized , , , , ,

Fracking.  Unconventional gas.  Tight oil.  Marcellus.  Bakken.  By whatever name, anyone who knows anything about energy, climate, or environment knows the problem.  As supplies tighten, demand spreads, and extraction and transport technologies improve, more and more of what’s “in the ground” is either coming out or is being held “in reserve.”  When will we finally […]

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