Appalachian Voices v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by Appalachian Voices and three other environmental organizations for a stay pending review of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order authorizing construction and operation of the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, a gas pipeline project involving installation of 55.3 miles of pipeline in Virginia and North Carolina. The organizations’ stay motion argued that they were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that FERC violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take a hard look at aquatic impacts, including cumulative impacts from a co-located pipeline project. (The organizations’ non-binding statement of issues indicated that they also would argue that FERC violated NEPA and the Natural Gas Act by failing to adequately consider the project’s greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts.) In its order denying the stay motion, the D.C. Circuit found that the petitioners did not demonstrate that they would likely succeed in showing that FERC’s consideration of the project’s environmental effects fell outside a “broad zone of reasonableness.” The court also found that harm to the public and other parties of stopping the project midway outweighed any irreparable harm to the environmental organizations.