FERC

Another Obama Regulator Refuses To Regulate

March 6, 2015 David Cay Johnston, www.america.aljazeera.com Educate! Capitalism, FERC, Law, Regulation

Hardly anyone has heard of Cheryl LaFleur, but she is one of America’s most powerful government officials, entrusted with vast authority to oversee the electricity, oil and natural gas industries. She chairs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a tiny government agency with only 1,500 employees. Its budget is covered not by taxpayers but by the industries it regulates. Her sworn duties include making sure charges for electricity are always just and reasonable. That means suppliers should be reasonably compensated and customers should pay reasonable prices. But she has consistently ignored this responsibility. When presented with serial indicators of unjust prices, she puts on a blindfold and sits on her hands. In a Feb. 18 letter to six senators and 13 representatives, LaFleur demonstrated beyond any doubt her fealty to electricity companies and disregard for consumers.

The Speech I Gave To FERC From Baggage Claim Area 3

March 6, 2015 Sandra Steingraber, www.ecowatch.com Educate! Environment, FERC, Natural Gas, Seneca Lake

We’re very fortunate to have abundant and relatively affordable domestic natural gas … But utilizing that gas to meet climate goals require the expansion and construction of gas infrastructure, both pipelines and compressor stations, to get it to where it needs to be to keep the lights on. But while gas is critically important to our climate goals and other environmental goals, it has issues of its own. Pipelines are facing unprecedented opposition from local and national groups including environmental activists. These groups are active in every FERC docket, as they should be, as well as in my email inbox seven days a week, in my Twitter feed, at our open meetings demanding to be heard, and literally at our door closing down First Street so FERC won’t be able to work. We have a situation here.

Beyond Extreme Energy: Staying in FERC’s Face

February 22, 2015 Anne Meador, www.cetology.org Resist! BXE, FERC, Fracking

We are Beyond Extreme Energy, a growing coalition of communities and individuals on the front lines—and taking casualties—in the extreme energy economy. We are the ones demanding to be heard, closing down First Street and getting in the way of FERC’s rubber-stamping of fracked-gas projects all over the country. We have been noticed, but rattling and annoying the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is not our objective. Rather, the permits must stop. The climate-disrupting, community-trampling, enrich-the-few-at-the-expense-of-the-rest system must change. And so we have sounded a new Call to Action. From May 21-29, 2015, BXE is heading back to the FERC building on First Street in Washington. We must intensify our campaign, now, while the oil and gas industry is reeling from the massive drop in fuel prices worldwide. Business as usual is unacceptable. We must step up to block the tsunami of new fracked-gas infrastructure that is overwhelming communities across the nation.

Newsletter: We Will Not Back Down

February 7, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Criminal Justice and Prisons, FERC, Police abuse, Surveillance, TPP, TTIP

This week we focus on the grim reality that government agencies and corporations work together to exploit people and planet and suppress dissent. This knowledge can be overwhelming at times to those who are striving for a more peaceful and just world, especially for those who are labeled as ‘terrorists’ by the ones who are violent. In this work, our hearts are fortified by the love demonstrated in activist communities, by the growing number of communities who are standing up to the security state and corporate domination and by the tangible victories occurring each week. When you see the power structure stiffen its back and get abusive, remember that is because we are building power – and they fear the people having power. This is the time to escalate and show them that we will not back down.

Town Sues FERC, Claims Acts Are Unconstitutional

February 5, 2015 Tom Relihan, www.recorder.com Organize! FERC, Massachusetts, Oil & Gas

The town of Deerfield plans to file a negligence claim against the United States government today in its fight against the planned natural gas pipeline through Franklin County. The tort action claims that a 2005 change in the federal Natural Gas Act that gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authority to regulate the transportation and sale of natural gas destined for sale overseas is unconstitutional. Filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which gives private parties the right to sue the federal government for damages if they are injured due to the negligence of one of its employees, the claim takes aim at Tennessee Gas Co.’s proposed 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline and is the latest salvo in the town’s battle to keep the pipeline from passing through its limits.

Activist Banned From FERC

February 5, 2015 Ted Glick, www.chesapeakeclimate.org Resist! FERC, Law, Oil & Gas

Like the vast majority of people in this country, I knew nothing about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission until maybe 2-3 years ago. Since then, through my CCAN work fighting the plans for the Cove Point LNG export terminal at Cove Point, Md., through my work in New Jersey fighting a compressor station and pipeline going through the county where I live, and through my work in the mushrooming movement in the Marcellus Shale region and elsewhere against fracked gas infrastructure and exports, I have unfortunately learned a great deal about FERC. FERC is, quite simply, a rubber stamp for the gas industry.

Opposition Greets Proposed Marcellus Shale-Trenton Pipeline

February 4, 2015 Andrew Maykuth www.philly.com Resist! Environment, FERC, New Jersey (NJ)

A blanket of snow overlay the idyllic landscape of farms, stone walls, and New Jersey's oldest surviving covered bridge last week. Alix Bacon, a regional manager for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, swept her arm across the postcard vista. "All of this is preserved," said Bacon, whose organization played a key role in securing the development rights to maintain the region's rural character. Last year, a consortium of utilities announced plans to build the 110-mile PennEast Pipeline to deliver natural gas from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region to an interconnection near Trenton.

Feds Made “Incredible Error” Ignoring N.Y. Salt Cavern Collapse

February 2, 2015 Peter Mantius, www.dcbureau.org Educate! Environment, FERC

The Midwestern energy company that seeks a federal permit for the storage project has denied knowing the roof failure ever happened. And the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which is poised to rule on the company’s permit application, has never publicly acknowledged the event. But a Houston geologist hired by lawyers for opponents of the project characterized the omission by Arlington Storage Co. and FERC as “an incredible error” that heightens safety concerns about the project next to Seneca Lake, less than three miles from the Village of Watkins Glen, population 1,860. “Clearly, Arlington’s application and FERC’s conclusions are compromised by this error,” H.C. Clark wrote in a Jan. 15 letter that is now part of FERC’s public record in the case.

Newsletter: Our Task-The Future As A Frontier

January 24, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter BXE, Citizens United, Corporatocracy, Davos, Democracy, Elections, fast track, FERC, Fracking, Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, Pipelines, Seneca Lake, Solar, Supreme Court, TPP, World Economic Forum

Sam Smith gave this talk, “On Becoming and Being an Activist,” at a teen conference. The essence of his message is that we are facing serious crises and we have to make a choice of whether we will act or not. We are on a dangerous path and it takes courage to see that and not be paralyzed into inaction. It is easier to ignore the truth and succumb to the many distractions in our lives. Smith writes: “It is this willingness to walk away from the seductive power of the present that first divides the mere reformer from the rebel — the courage to emigrate from one’s own ways in order to meet the future not as just a right but as a frontier.” Smith goes on to describe that traditional tools for social change, working within the system, are not effective in this time. We must raise our voices, do the unexpected and try the improbable. We need to use our passion, our energy, our magic and music to burst the illusion being hand fed to us in the media and taught in our schools.

FERC Puts Stamp Of Approval On Algonquin Pipeline Expansion

January 24, 2015 Anne Meador, www.cetology.org Educate! Environment, FERC, Natural Gas, Pipeline

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a positive Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Algonquin Incremental Market project on January 23, 2015. The project includes 37.4 miles of natural gas pipeline in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. In 2013, FERC began evaluating Spectra Energy’s proposal which would increase pipeline capacity to deliver gas to New England markets and include a new crossing of the Hudson River. It would also modify six existing compressors and build three new metering and regulating stations. FERC Commissioners still have to make a final decision, but in recent years the agency has never failed to approve a major infrastructure project.

FERC Doesn’t Work: Commissioners Take Unexpected Recess

January 23, 2015 Jimmy Betts, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, FERC, Oil and Gas

Washington, DC - In a bold moment of non-violent coordinated efforts, 16 members of the climate, energy, environmental, social, and ecological justice community coalition Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) successfully disrupted the monthly "business-as-usual" Commissioner’s Meeting at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). After all of the commissioners and attendees were seated, following industry representatives and other officials patting each other on the backs and acknowledging the relationships that FERC's commissioners have enjoyed with profit-obsessed corporate entities for many uncontested decades, members of BXE rose together to stand among the audience. Kendall Hale of North Carolina requested and was 'permitted' (pun intended) to deliver a rousing 5-minute speech to the FERC Commission meeting -- this included the commissioners, a press table where a people's media reporter Elias Weston-Farber was seated with other local journalists, and a room full of others in what had been considered a public meeting. There was a person actively videotaping the proceedings throughout our time in the meeting room.

Groups Challenge FERC Approval Of Pipeline In NY & PA

January 3, 2015 Earth Justice, www.earthjustice.org Organize! Energy, Environmental Justice, FERC

Environmental groups today called on the federal government to reconsider its approval of a 124-mile natural gas pipeline and gas transmission system project that would run from northeastern Pennsylvania through four counties in upstate New York. The groups say the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in approving the Constitution pipeline earlier this month failed to properly assess the environmental impact of the projects as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The pipeline project—planned by Constitution Pipeline Co. and Iroquois Gas Transmission System―would cut through Susquehanna County in Pennsylvania and Broome, Chenango, Delaware, and Schoharie counties in New York.

Multi-State Week Of Action Against Fracked-Gas Pipeline

December 10, 2014 Susan Van Dolsen, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, FERC, Fracking, Pipeline

Grassroots groups from four states along the proposed route for Spectra’s Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline expansion, which cuts through New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, have joined together to host a coordinated “Week of Respect and Resistance”, with actions from December 13 – December 19 in opposition to the project. The actions are planned in anticipation of the release of the final Environmental Impact Statement by the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee due on or about December 19, 2014. The week of action will target local, state and federal legislators and government agencies – all of whom have direct roles or influence in the approval of the project. These actions will build on the numerous rallies, vigils, meetings and call-in campaigns that have been happening across the states for the past several months.

Breaking: Victory For Climate Justice Activists

November 26, 2014 Matt Smith and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, Environment, FERC, Fracking

In a successful court appearance this morning, government prosecutors were unable to proceed with charges against six activists involved in the week-long blockade in early November of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Headquarters (FERC) in Washington, DC. The blockade of FERC is part of a growing resistance movement demanding an end to new fossil fuel infrastructure and an immediate shift to community-controlled renewable energy sources. FERC is the government agency which regulates the interstate transmission of gas, oil and electricity in the US, and in this role is facilitating an unprecedented build-out of new fossil fuel infrastructure resulting from Obama’s “All of the above” energy strategy. In recognition that this course is disastrous for mitigating the climate crisis, communities across the nation are rising up to fight FERC-approved pipelines, gas storage facilities, compressor stations and fracked gas export facilities.

Beyond Extreme Energy Actions Continue, Sign Up!

November 21, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Climate Change, climate crisis, FERC, Oil & Gas

Following a week of actions in Washington, DC to retire fossil fuels and move to renewable energy sources, the Beyond Extreme Energy coalition continues to engage in local struggles and to plan for future large actions. Sign up to join the Popular Resistance Climate Justice Affinity Group to receive emails and information about upcoming actions. We are also engaged in conversations around how to prepare for the Paris Treaty in 2015 and connect with the international struggle for real solutions to the climate crisis.

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