Sane Energy Project v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Petitioners challenged the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYSDEC’s) issuance of a negative declaration finding that an air permit application for expansion of the Greenpoint Energy Center facility in Brooklyn, a provider of gas service, would not have significant environmental impacts. The expansion project involved two new LNG vaporizers. The petition alleged that NYSDEC segmented its State Environmental Quality Review Act review by failing to examine related projects such as a gas transmission pipeline, a new LNG truck station, and LNG trucking operations. The petition’s allegations also included that the negative declaration was not consistent with the greenhouse gas emissions reduction mandates of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.