The Justice Department (DOJ) and the energy industry are asking an appellate court to stay the landmark district court ruling that vacated the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) general permit for constructing pipelines, with DOJ and industry citing numerous alleged errors in the lower court’s ruling that they say are likely to be overturned on the merits.
President Donald Trump’s April 10, 2019, executive order required the agency to finalize by May 10, 2020, regulatory changes to how states determine whether federally permitted projects protect water quality.
A federal district court judge has narrowed his landmark vacatur of a Clean Water Act (CWA) general permit governing construction of pipelines and other utility projects while providing a lengthy defense of his modified remedy and underlying ruling that appears aimed at bolstering his decisions during almost certain appeals.
An analysis from the firm ClearView Energy Partners notes that DOE is seeking to exempt gas export approvals from environmental review, despite its successful track record in defending such reviews.
Environmentalists are proposing a federal judge narrow the scope of his high-profile ruling vacating a Clean Water Act (CWA) general permit used for pipeline and other utility line construction, which could ease some industry concerns, but they maintain the judge’s rationale for his ruling is correct and will be upheld on appeal.
The Energy Department (DOE) is proposing to exempt its process for approving liquified natural gas (LNG) exports from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, a plan that is already raising eyebrows from both environmentalists and industry sources.
As soon as this week, EPA could issue a final rule that is expected to significantly narrow the actions states can consider when determining whether a federally permitted project will violate water quality standards and limit states’ ability to mitigate such projects’ adverse impacts, although the rule is likely to spur a lengthy litigation battle.
Democrats are widely expected to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to target at least some Trump administration environmental rollbacks next year if they sweep the November elections, with sources suggesting the law’s bar on issuing “substantially” similar measures to repealed rules will not preclude the effort.
In new litigation, Sierra Club is arguing the Army Corps of Engineers is illegally allowing construction of a Texas pipeline to continue after a federal judge in Montana vacated a key Clean Water Act permit.
Environmental groups are pursuing two new types of lawsuits challenging environmental reviews of natural gas infrastructure, including one case seeking to underscore a precedent forcing federal regulators to consider downstream carbon emissions from pipelines and a second seeking to block a liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal that would receive the fuel from rail and trucks, not pipelines.
