Press Release | August 22, 2017

Federal Court Rules FERC Must Consider Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Pipelines

FERC ordered to go back and revise 2016 Environmental Impact Statement

Charlottesville, VA — Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit vacated a 2016 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of three natural gas pipeline segments in the Southeast. Similar to the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the vast majority of the gas transported via the Southeast Market Pipeline Project, which runs through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, would be burned in gas-fired power plants. The decision stated that, “at a minimum, FERC should have estimated the amount of power-plant carbon emissions the pipelines will make possible.”

FERC will now be required to undertake a new environmental impact statement for the Southeast Market Pipeline Project. SELC calls on FERC to do the same for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.

“This decision further highlights the fact that FERC must go back and revise its envrionmental review of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline before issuing a permit for this heavily opposed project,” said Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney, Greg Buppert. “This ruling now makes it clear that FERC cannot simply state that it is unable to know the level of greenhouse gas emissions of the ACP, or any other pipeline, and simply move on. This is one more example of the rubber stamp process we are seeing with pipelines, when we need a much more thorough and fair review for a decision that will bind us for decades.”

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About The Southern Environmental Law Center:
The Southern Environmental Law Center is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. With nine offices across the region (Charlottesville, VA; Chapel Hill, NC; Atlanta, GA; Charleston, SC; Washington, DC; Birmingham, AL; Nashville, TN; Asheville, NC; and Richmond, VA), SELC is widely recognized as the Southeast’s foremost environmental organization and regional leader. SELC works on a full range of environmental issues to protect the South’s natural resources and the health and well-being of all the people in our region. www.SouthernEnvironment.org

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The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

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