BLM advances massive Wyo. CO2 pipeline network: “The Trump administration has completed
a draft analysis of a proposed nearly 2,000-mile-long pipeline network that would cross mostly federal lands in west-central Wyoming and transport carbon dioxide to long-ago abandoned oil fields. The Bureau of Land Management tomorrow is scheduled to release
a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Wyoming Pipeline Corridor Initiative, first proposed by the state eight years ago. The sweeping project is designed to, among other things, establish a market for CO2. It would transport the greenhouse gas
that would otherwise be discharged into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants to oil fields as part of enhanced oil recovery operations. Enhanced oil recovery involves pumping CO2 deep into the ground, where it loosens hard-to-reach crude oil reserves,
allowing it to be brought up to the surface. Wyoming officials have estimated that this kind of enhanced oil recovery effort could produce 1.8 billion barrels of crude oil in the Cowboy State. But the pipeline corridor project would require amending resource
management plans in nine BLM field offices across Wyoming, according to an advance notice in today's Federal Register. Roughly 1,100 miles of the 1,900-mile-long corridor would run through BLM-managed lands in Wyoming. The draft EIS and proposed resource management
plan amendments are set to be formally published in tomorrow's Federal Register, kicking off a 90-day public comment period running through July 16. The Wyoming Pipeline Corridor Initiative would designate only the boundaries of the corridors, each between
200 and 300 feet wide; any pipelines or construction would require additional, project-specific review under the National Environmental Policy Act.”
[E&E News, 4/16/20]
https://bit.ly/2xu1E85
Federal Court Halts Trump Attempt to Fast-track Keystone XL: “A U.S. District Court in Montana
delivered a significant blow to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in a landmark decision effectively revoking a key permit allowing the pipeline to cross over approximately 700 waterways. TC Energy had planned to cross those waters using a permit issued by
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12, which provides a streamlined and opaque approval process. In a victory for NRDC and its partners—Bold Alliance, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and Northern Plains Resource Council—the
court vacated NWP 12, finding that the Corps had violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in issuing the general permit. This decision adds to the legal obstacles facing Keystone XL and stymies TC Energy’s plans to construct the controversial tar sands pipeline
just weeks after the government of Alberta attempted to push the project through with a public investment of $1.5 billion.
NWP 12 is a five-year general permit intended to be issued for specific categories of activities that have minimal direct or cumulative environmental impacts. The general permit allows projects
that will discharge dredged or fill material into U.S. wetlands or waterways to move forward without undergoing the comprehensive and transparent environmental review ordinarily required by the CWA, and often without any notification to or further action by
the Corps. While the NWP 12 process was intended to fast track CWA approvals for certain categories of projects that truly have minimal environmental impacts, in recent years the Corps has used the project to avoid environmental review for large-scale pipeline
projects like Keystone XL.”
[NRDC, 4/16/20]
https://on.nrdc.org/2wLzfK3
Federal Court Nullifies Clean Water Act General Permit for Pipelines and Other Linear Projects:
“The order, issued in Northern Plains Resource Council v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 4:19-cv-00044-BMM (D. Mont.), held that the Corps failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services)
as required by Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA. This provision of the ESA requires federal agencies “to insure that the actions they authorize, fund, or carry out do not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered or threatened species or destroy or adversely
modify critical habitat,” and its implementing regulations require federal agencies to consult with the Services when their actions “may affect” a listed species or critical habitat. 50 C.F.R. ยง 402.14. The Corps had conducted voluntary programmatic consultation
for prior 5-year iterations of NWP 12, but maintained that NWP 12 would have no effect on ESA-listed species or critical habitat because NWP 12’s conditions do not authorize projects that might have such effects without first completing project-specific consultation.
When the Corps reissued NWP 12 in 2017, it conducted no further consultation based on the same no effect rationale. The court found the Corps’ conclusion to be arbitrary and capricious and faulted the Corps for purportedly ignoring its own conclusions that
both temporary and permanent fills often impact aquatic ecosystems. The court explained that these acknowledgements of ecosystem impacts exceeded the “low threshold for Section 7(a)(2) consultation.” Slip op. at 12. The court also concluded that the Corps’
ability to review individual projects that require submission of a preconstruction notification (PCN) did not obviate the Corps’ obligation to conduct a programmatic consultation for NWP 12 itself. The order further called into question General Condition 18
(applicable to all NWPs), which requires project proponents to submit a PCN for projects that “might” impact listed species or critical habitat. In the court’s view, requiring private parties to assess whether a project might have impacts that could require
consultation constituted an impermissible delegation of the Corp’s duty under ESA to assess whether its actions “may affect” listed species and critical habitat.”
[National Law Review, 4/16/20]
https://bit.ly/2VDhKE5
New FERC commissioner hints at market action, announces staff: “Newly sworn-in Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission member James Danly offered a preview yesterday of his priorities — which may include a focus on the wholesale capacity markets where renewable, nuclear and fossil fuel resources compete. In his first public appearance since joining FERC
over two weeks ago as the agency's third Republican commissioner, Danly said that "there's more to be done" to clear up price signals in major U.S. power markets. He also mentioned transmission incentives, natural gas infrastructure certificate approvals and
grid reliability as subjects he sees as important. Danly was joined by his two Republican colleagues yesterday as the commission voted 3-1 to largely reject a request for rehearing into FERC's order to require a so-called expanded minimum offer price rule
for state-backed generation sources in the PJM Interconnection, the nation's largest capacity market (E&E News PM, April 16). The agency's order could affect the ability of renewable and nuclear generators to compete across PJM's 13-state footprint. Danly
suggested more action may be needed by FERC to ensure those markets are operating at their peak performance. That may even involve a disruption of undefined "non-energy-producing resources," he said. "Today's PJM order marks an important step in ensuring anchored
price signals in capacity markets, but I think there's more to be done," Danly said during his opening remarks at FERC's monthly meeting, held as a tele-hearing due to ongoing social distancing requirements stemming from the novel coronavirus.”
[E&E News, 4/17/20]
https://bit.ly/2ynmZ2S
LETTER: NEPA policy change bad for environment: “On Jan. 9, the National Environmental Policy
Act was updated for the first time since 1978. The changes will speed up the review process for infrastructure projects by no longer considering the long-term environmental health effects of the project. This choice will ignore long-term human exposure to
air pollution and contaminants. Especially in today’s world where we are all feeling the effects of COVID-19, understanding how air pollution is linked to our health is so vital. Harvard released a study linking a one-unit increase in particulate matter pollution
to a 15% increased likelihood of death by COVID-19. A reduction in air pollution in New York could have saved over 200 lives and would reduce the vulnerability of African-American communities. The time is now for President Trump to act to reduce contaminants
and pollutants in our neighborhoods; to keep ourselves, our elderly and our children safer from the damaging effects of pollutants on our health. So why is it that now your administration is reducing NEPA oversight and lowering regulation on automobile tailpipes?
We have a unique opportunity to make green and healthy solutions part of the United States’ economic rebound. I urge the president to support the American people in making a shift toward clean air and better health.”
[Nevada Appeal, 4/15/20]
https://bit.ly/34UMuoF
Justin McCarthy
Director, NEPA Campaign
The Partnership Project
1612 K St, NW
Washington, DC 20006 USA
C: (540) 312-3797
E: jmccarthy@partnershipproject.org
The Partnership Project, a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit, is a collaborative effort of over 20 of the country’s most influential advocacy organizations, including Sierra Club, Earthjustice, League of Conservation Voters, and Natural
Resources Defense Council.