FERC

Protesters Block Dominion Energy’s Tree-Felling Before Permits

March 9, 2018 Anne Meador, Facebook. Resist! Dominion Energy, Environment, FERC, Oil and Gas

Workers were temporarily blocked from entering the site of a proposed compressor station in Southern Maryland early on Thursday morning. Seven people and a baby pulled a wide streamer of blue fabric across the entrance to a Dominion-owned site, where tree-felling has begun for a proposed compressor station. The project hasn't yet received all the necessary permits, but FERC gave Dominion the go-ahead to clear 13 acres of trees and vegetation.

FERC Commissioner Spent Most Of First Months In Office Meeting With Fossil Fuel Industry

February 19, 2018 By Itai Vardi, Desmogblog.com Educate! FERC, Fossil Fuels

In his first few months at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), commissioner Rob Powelson scheduled the great majority of his meetings with fossil fuel energy companies and utilities, his work calendar shows. The calendar, obtained by DeSmog through an open records request, can be viewed below. Nominated to FERC by President Trump, Powelson began serving on the commission last August. He previously served on the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. A review of his FERC calendar shows that between September 4 and December 10 2017, Powelson had a total 76 work meetings scheduled with various stakeholders. Of those meetings, 62 (82 percent) were with fossil fuel and pipeline companies, utilities, and trade groups predominantly representing those industries.

All Out To Stop Pipelines In Virginia: Updates And Call For Support

February 14, 2018 Staff, Itsgoingdown.org Resist! FERC, Pipelines, Virginia

We tried our hardest to stop these destructive projects at the regulatory level but we have always known that action beyond those processes would be necessary. We will continue to support regulatory and judicial efforts as we believe in a multi pronged approach to this fight, though there are some of us for which this is no longer a viable option. It will take a diversity of tactics to defeat these pipelines. We believe that direct action is an imperative part of the multi pronged approach and we are committed to helping to create a culture of resistance to the fossil fuel industry in VA. We believe direct action is necessary to win.

Fracking Opponents Post Their Demands On The Walls Of FERC

January 23, 2018 Luke for DC Indymedia Resist! FERC, Fracking, Pipelines

On the 18th of January, Beyond Extreme Energy and others fighting against fracked gas pipelines, fracking, and eminent domain posted their demands on the walls of FERC shortly before the agency's monthly meeting. As fast as activists were putting up fliers demanding that FERC comply with other Federal agencies and laws, security guards ripped them down. FERC is paid for by the very companies it regulates, and FERC commissioners usually have prior experience as executives of pipeline and utility companies. FERC has been called a rubber stamp as they have only disapproved one fracked gas pipeline and one LNG terminal in recent times. They have been called out as a revolving door, and even as the "FERCus" as their process (and their meetings) have become such a circus.

Trump Picks FERC Official With Potential Conflicts Of Interest

January 9, 2018 By Mark Hand, Thinkprogress.org Educate! Energy, FERC, Regulation, Trump Administration

By choosing a longtime corporate attorney to head the nation’s top energy regulatory agency, President Donald Trump stuck to his practice of nominating officials riddled with potential conflicts of interest to high-ranking roles in the U.S. government. As a partner with Jones Day, a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm, Kevin McIntyre’s ties to energy companies that fall under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) jurisdiction were so numerous and ran so deep that his swearing-in as chairman of the agency was delayed to give him more time to sever the relationships. After his first meeting as chairman on December 21, McIntyre explained to reporters that unlike most commissioners, he worked in private practice for almost 30 years representing companies that are regulated by FERC.

Industry-Friendly FERC Rejects Perry’s Coal & Nukes Bailout

January 9, 2018 Staff, Priceofoil.org Educate! Coal, FERC, Nuclear Energy

“Secretary Perry likes to use flash and glitz to cover over imperfections in form. Like the wise judges on Dancing with the Stars, FERC saw through the act. “This was an easy decision to make for FERC. Secretary Perry’s proposal was nothing more than a massive bailout for the coal and nuclear industries. It’s no surprise it was resoundingly rejected by even the industry-friendly commission, just as it’s no surprise that Secretary Perry continues to demonstrate he has no idea what he’s doing overseeing our nation’s energy infrastructure. “We’ll know FERC is really intent on setting a course for a brighter future when they actually start taking our climate crisis seriously.

FERC Reviewing Approval Policy For Pipelines

December 27, 2017 By Steve Horn, desmogblog.com Resist! Energy, Environment, FERC, Pipelines

The new chairman for the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Kevin McIntyre, says the agency plans to review its permitting process and procedures for natural gas pipelines.FERC has come under fire for serving as a “rubber stamp” for these pipelines, which these days mostly carry gas obtained via the horizontal drilling and injection technique known as hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). The agency has rejected only two out of the approximately 400 pipeline applications received since 1999, when it last updated its gas pipeline review process.

BXE’s Response To FERC’s Upcoming Review Of Pipeline Permitting Process

December 26, 2017 Staff, Beyondextremeenergy.org Resist! FERC, Pipelines

If FERC were an agency which truly put the public interest first, the announced plan to review their process for approving pipelines would be a welcome development. But facts don’t lie: over the past 30 years FERC has granted permits for all but two proposed interstate gas pipelines. It is a rubber stamp agency, and it has been this through both Democratic and Republican administrations.m This announced plan comes on the heels of FERC’s efforts in New York to override the rights of states to make decisions on air and water permits for proposed pipelines. It comes as FERC considers Rick Perry’s order that they change regulatory rules and increase costs to consumers so that coal and nuclear power are given special privileges in the supposedly fuel source neutral, FERC-regulated market.

FERC Meeting Disrupted By Celebrity Actor and Pipeline Protester

November 17, 2017 Resist! BXE, FERC, New York (NY), Pipelines

By Melinda Tuhus for Beyond Extreme Energy. Protesters were removed from today’s monthly Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) meeting after speaking out against the commission’s controversial effort to force the construction of the Millennium Valley Lateral Pipeline, even without securing the required New York 401 Water Quality Certificate. The protest was led by Actor James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential, The Green Mile, Six Feet Under) and Pramilla Malick, chair of the New-York-based group “Protect Orange County.” Both were removed from the building. Green America, the nation’s leading green economy organization, and Seeding Sovereignty, an anti-fracking group, also participated in the action. The pipeline project would require the installation of approximately 7.8 miles of 16 inch lateral pipeline between Millennium’s mainline and the CPV Valley Energy Center in Orange County, New York. FERC’s controversial efforts to force legal authorization for the pipeline are especially dangerous because they could establish a very bad precedent.

Challenge To AIM Pipeline Approval Goes To DC Circuit Court

October 20, 2017 SAPE, www.popularresistance.org Resist! AIM Pipeline, FERC, Justice Sys, Oil and Gas

By Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion. Washington, D.C.- Two and half years after asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reverse its decision to permit construction of the “Algonquin” Pipeline Expansion, residents are finally getting their day in court. Ellen Weininger from Westchester County, New York made the trip to DC Circuit Court for oral arguments Thursday. "From its inception Spectra's massive Algonquin pipeline expansion violated federal law to avoid a full review of its cumulative impacts. While the courts finally hear oral arguments on the case today in D.C., tens of millions of people in New York and across New England, living and working in the pipeline's path, continue to remain in harm's way."

Historic Union Hill Community Threatened By Atlantic Coast Pipeline

September 30, 2017 Sammy DiDonato, www.unicornriot.ninja Resist! FERC, Pipelines, Protests, Virginia

By Sammy DiDonato for Unicorn Riot - Dominion plans to build a large compressor station for the pipeline in Union Hill, a historic Black community founded by descendants of freed slaves in unincorporated Buckingham County near the Cumberland State Forest, west of Richmond. Local residents see the pipeline company’s disregard for their community as part of an established history of environmental racism in Virginia. “As African-Americans living in a county where racial inequality and retaliation have been facts of life for over 300 years, where many of their ancestors were enslaved, the community of Union Hill’s lack of access to political decision-making makes them vulnerable to Dominion Power’s corporate profit-making plans.” – Lakshmi Fjord, anthropologist and activist with Friends of Buckingham County. The kayak actions were carried out to call on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to not defer to the Army Corps of Engineers decision when issuing permits to projects that threaten water quality. Organizing groups included Friends of Buckingham County, Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, Friends of Nelson County, and Yogaville Environmental Solutions. Friends of Buckingham County has been organizing around the Atlantic Coast Pipeline for three years.

Disruption Of U.S. Senate Hearing Includes A 25-year Veteran Of FERC

September 11, 2017 Staff, www.fossilfreeri.org Resist! Disruption, FERC, Senate

By Staff of Fossil Free Rhode Island - Ted Glick, a New Jersey-based activist who was arrested at a similar hearing for Trump’s first two nominees to FERC, stood and repeatedly asked Congress to investigate FERC. The agency’s abuses of law and power have been exhaustively documented by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, which hosted a speak-out at the National Press Club last year. Ted Glick met earlier this year with Richard Glick (no relation), whose expertise is in renewable energy. Ted Glick said: “Based on my meeting with him and what I know about him, he will have no impact at FERC. He will be run over by Trump’s three appointees, and probably [Obama appointee] Cheryl LaFleur, too. FERC is a corrupt agency and it’s a waste of a good man. Indeed, in a recent 2-1 ruling, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that FERC had not properly analyzed the climate impact of burning the methane that the Southeast Market Pipelines Project would deliver to power plants. Clarke Herbert, a retired school teacher from Alexandria, Virginia, disrupted the meeting and focused on the disruption to the lives of thousands of people due to construction of fracked gas infrastructure.

Resisting The South’s Pipeline Building Boom

September 9, 2017 Sue Sturgis, www.facingsouth.org Resist! FERC, Pipelines

By Sue Sturgis for Facing South - The U.S. South is at the epicenter of the nationwide push to build new onshore natural gas pipelines, which carry serious environmental and economic risks. Of the 56 projects that have applied for permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) since 2013, 31 run through Southern states. But the building campaign is meeting resistance in the region, with anti-pipeline organizers holding a series of protests and other events this month targeting both state and federal regulators. In North Carolina, activists with the Alliance to Protect Our People and the Places We Live launched a vigil outside the state Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) headquarters in Raleigh this week as the agency considers whether to grant water quality permits needed for construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a project being built by Dominion, Duke Energy and Southern Company Gas that's proposed to run from West Virginia through Virginia to North Carolina. Some of the activists are taking part in a water-only fast as part of the action, which is being billed as a "fast to support DEQ."

Dozens Of Land Owners Sue Over Eminent Domain For FERC Pipelines

September 8, 2017 Duncan Adams, www.roanoke.com Resist! FERC, Land, Lawsuit, Pipelines

By Duncan Adams for The Roanoke Times - Dozens of landowners potentially affected by the Mountain Valley Pipeline or the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and other foes of the controversial projects have filed a federal lawsuit that challenges eminent domain provisions of the Natural Gas Act. The suit contends that these provisions, as implemented by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, violate Fifth Amendment constitutional protections by allowing private, for-profit pipeline companies to wield eminent domain to acquire easements across private properties without evidence that the projects are needed or will serve the public good. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, contends that FERC’s approval of the pipelines “is virtually certain and imminent” and it asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to intervene. The plaintiffs and their attorney, Carolyn Elefant, a former FERC lawyer, implore the court to stop FERC from issuing the certificates of public convenience and necessity — which the pipeline companies need to begin construction or to exercise eminent domain — until the lawsuit can be litigated. Defendants include the two pipeline companies, each a limited liability company incorporated in Delaware, as well as FERC and its three commissioners.

Disruption At Hearing For FERC Nominees Includes 25-year Veteran

September 8, 2017 Melinda Tuhus, www.beyondextremeenergy.org Resist! FERC, Protests

By Melinda Tuhus for Beyond Extreme Energy - When Chairwoman Sen. Lisa Murkowski asked the nominees – Richard Glick and Kevin McIntyre – to stand, Andrew Hinz also stood and shouted, “Have a conscience! FERC is destroying the atmosphere!” In a prepared statement, he wrote, “Because I spent 25 years working at FERC, I am compelled to speak out. It is abundantly clear now that natural gas is not a safe bridge fuel. We must divert any proposed investment in fossil fuel infrastructure not required for safety to a rapid transition to sustainable energy. FERC is broken and in dire need of a reset. It must take into account solid, overwhelming evidence of climate impacts and, instead of permitting fossil fuel expansion projects, it must support and aggressively promote incorporation of sustainable energy into our grid. Until FERC is reset, we are witnessing an undemocratic, non-representative process that is merely an extension of the fossil fuel industry and is destroying our atmosphere and poisoning our water. My message to our legislators: find your conscience before it is too late – while there is still time to keep our planet habitable.” Ted Glick, who was arrested at a similar hearing for Trump’s first two nominees to FERC, stood and repeatedly asked Congress to investigate FERC.

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