Natural Gas

Debate over California’s regulation of hydraulic fracturing is re-emerging after the state recently approved two dozen new oil well stimulation permits, which follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) moratorium last year on the practices to allow regulators and outside experts to review the permitting process and conduct additional environmental reviews.

EPA Region 3 is joining environmentalists and state officials in urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to more closely scrutinize the environmental effects of a developer’s plan to bifurcate a proposed natural gas pipeline in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Just days before releasing their final rollback of Obama-era vehicle greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards, Trump administration officials have been scrambling to show the rule has net positive benefits to society given that recent drafts show the flagship rulemaking would impose greater overall costs than benefits.

A federal district judge is rejecting as insufficient under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) the Army Corps’ streamlined environmental assessment (EA) of the Dakota Access Pipeline, citing a new appellate court precedent requiring a more in-depth environmental impact statement (EIS) for “controversial” projects.