Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

A nonprofit association “dedicated to protecting and improving the health, standard of living, and economic development of the coastal community in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas” filed a petition for review in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging new authorizations for an LNG terminal and pipeline project in Texas (the Rio Grande LNG terminal and Rio Bravo Pipeline Project). FERC granted the new approvals on remand from a 2021 D.C. Circuit <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/vecinos-para-el-bienestar-de-la-comunidad-costera-v-federal-energy-regulatory-commission/">decision</a> that directed FERC to take additional analysis under NEPA and the Natural Gas Act, including by explaining whether the NEPA regulations require application of the social cost of carbon or similar framework. On remand, FERC disclosed, “[f]or informational purposes,” FERC staff’s estimate of the social cost of greenhouse gases associated with emissions from construction and operation of the facilities, but FERC said that because there were no accepted tools or methods for determining significance of the emissions, it would not characterize the emissions as significant or insignificant. The nonprofit association’s lawsuit was consolidated with a <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/city-of-port-isabel-v-federal-energy-regulatory-commission/">lawsuit</a> filed in July by the City of Port Isabel, Texas; the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas; and Sierra Club.