Feds: Keep DAPL pipeline open during NEPA review: “The Army Corps of Engineers is urging
a federal judge not to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline while the agency redoes part of its environmental analysis of the controversial project. Last month, District of Columbia District Judge James Boasberg ordered the agency to conduct a more robust
environmental analysis of the operational oil pipeline under the National Environmental Policy Act. The 1,172-mile pipeline carries crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale region to Illinois and connects to the Gulf Coast. It has faced years of litigation
from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe challenging the potential harms from the project. The tribe scored a victory when Boasberg cited the agency for failing to address that an easement for the pipeline crossing beneath Lake Oahe was "highly controversial" under
NEPA, and he ordered the Army Corps to conduct an environmental impact statement. But the judge, an Obama appointee, put off deciding the fate of the pipeline during the review process until he received further briefs from the parties in the case. In a court
filing this week, the Army Corps downplayed its "procedural error." The agency was joined in separate briefs by Dakota Access LLC and North Dakota in warning the court of the economic and environmental consequences of vacating the easement and shutting down
the pipeline. Each of the briefs cited precedent from Allied-Signal Inc. v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which found that a court had to weigh the seriousness of the deficiencies of an agency order against the disruption caused in the interim by overturning
it. This case clearly showed higher risks from overturning the easement, they warned.”
[E&E News, 5/1/20]
https://bit.ly/3d6MKUm
Sage-Grouse, Other Projects to Get Exemption From NEPA Review: “The Bureau of Land Management
will exclude some proposals for oil drilling, road-building, sage-grouse habitat improvement and other projects from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act in order to comply with other laws, according to a proposal scheduled for
publication Friday. Broadly supported by industry, the exclusions will allow the BLM to approve projects that aim to protect species such as the greater sage-grouse. Environmental groups say the projects won’t actually benefit the birds. The BLM is updating
its NEPA implementation procedures in order to grant categorical exclusions mandated by the 2018 Farm bill.”
[Bloomberg Law, 4/30/20]
https://bit.ly/3d172OM
Army Corps permit puts Permian project in legal limbo: “A court order that blocked an Army
Corps of Engineers process for delivering water-crossing permits to pipeline projects should be enough to stop a $2 billion project in Texas that would ship natural gas to Gulf Coast markets, according to a Sierra Club complaint. The complaint, filed in the
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, requested a court injunction to halt construction on the 420-mile Texas pipeline project. It cited an April court order that stemmed from litigation over the contentious Keystone XL pipeline project. Last
month's order by a federal court in Montana focused on an Army Corps permit granted without consulting the Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by the Endangered Species Act. The ruling led the Army Corps to suspend its entire Nationwide Permit 12 program,
which threw energy projects across the country into turmoil. Sierra Club lawyers are arguing that the use of the Nationwide Permit 12 process is a strike against the proposed Permian Highway pipeline. "It is outrageous that the Corps approved this project
without public notice or opportunity to comment on their permits," Sierra Club attorney Rebecca McCreary said in a statement about the Permian Highway project. "Nationwide Permit 12 allows for no public hearings or participation by the local communities before
the Corps permits construction to start, nor is there public notice or comment on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits allowing harm to the endangered species along the route.’”
[E&E News, 5/1/2020]
https://bit.ly/3bXSS0M
PG&E donates $5 million to Forest Service to reduce wildfire risk: “As part of its continuing
efforts to further mitigate wildfire risks across Northern and Central California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has donated nearly $5 million to the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, to fund fuel reduction projects and purchase equipment
that will be used in six national forests located throughout the state. The Forest Service intends to use the funds for fuel-reduction projects in 5,870 acres through the various forests. Projects will include prescribed pile burning, mechanical thinning and
bio-mass removal for mulching. Additionally, the funds will allow the Forest Service to purchase new fuel-reducing equipment such as machine saws, mastication heads, grapple machinery, wood chippers and trailers, which will enable more in-house work and faster
reaction times to complete needed work. The program will fund and facilitate the completion of required NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) surveys and documentation needed to treat the forests with fuel reduction activities. California faces an increasing
threat from catastrophic wildfires, severe weather and higher temperatures, and recent state and federal climate assessments warn the threat is only growing. In 2012, just 15 percent of PG&E’s service area was designated by the California Public Utilities
Commission as having an elevated wildfire risk. Today, it’s more than 50 percent.”
[Plumas News, 5/1/20]
https://bit.ly/2yh5EJj
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.