Sierra Club, Flint Riverkeeper, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper filed their opening brief in their challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) authorizations for a natural gas pipeline project extending from Alabama to Florida. One of the petitioners’ three primary arguments was that FERC violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and acted arbitrarily and capriciously by not considering the reasonably foreseeable indirect downstream environmental effects of the pipeline project, including “the greenhouse gas, health, and climate effects of burning 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for several decades” when tools were available and used by other federal agencies exist to measure such impacts.

Challenge to FERC approvals for natural gas pipeline from Alabama to Florida.


Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

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Environmental Groups Said FERC’s Failure to Consider Gas Pipeline’s Downstream Effects Violated NEPA

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

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The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

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Environmental Groups Said FERC’s Failure to Consider Gas Pipeline’s Downstream Effects Violated NEPA

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance