Submit your public comment before the May 26 deadline.
John,
Over the years, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has become infamous for rubber-stamping dirty fracked gas pipelines.
As the independent federal agency tasked with reviewing and regulating all interstate fracked gas infrastructure projects, FERC plays a huge role in determining which projects move forward and whether energy corporations get to seize people's land to build them. Unfortunately, FERC has almost never denied a gas infrastructure project, and that's bad news for local communities and the climate.
So it's a big deal that FERC is updating its criteria for evaluating proposed projects and determining whether they’re "in the public interest." This is a rare opportunity for all of us to weigh in and re-shape how FERC regulates fracked gas transmission.
Because FERC permits the development of interstate fracked gas pipelines and compressor stations, any changes made could impact communities across the country for decades. And we’re less than 10 years away from emissions levels that will lock humanity into irreversible and catastrophic climate change, so if we don’t make big changes now, the food, water and climate we all depend on will be at risk.
We're specifically asking FERC to consider:
How they define "project need" – It’s not enough for FERC to determine whether fossil corporations want more fossil fuel projects. Instead, FERC should determine whether or not the energy is actually needed and there are no viable non-gas alternatives (including a no action option).
Identifying and mitigating harms on environmental justice communities impacted by the project – Overlooking environmental justice impacts has enabled FERC to green-light projects as "in the public interest" that are anything but.
Reviewing the full scope of environmental effects – Under national environmental laws, FERC needs to consider the full scope of a project’s environmental impacts, such as the climate change impact of the fracking to supply the gas and of burning the gas in homes; instead, FERC has taken a head-in-the-sand approach to these obvious consequences of pipeline approvals.
FERC has been blatantly ignoring the “indirect effects” and climate impacts of pipelines for a long time. FERC has made a habit of considering the pipeline project in a vacuum, looking at its construction, but ignoring the impacts of the gas flowing through it, absurdly claiming that the broader climate impacts from these pipelines are unforeseeable and therefore don’t need to be considered. This current policy places a thumb on the scale in favor of more and more gas development. That's bad for communities, people's air and water, and any hope of a livable planet in the future.
It's not hard to foresee the impacts of more fracked gas pipelines. We've seen the impacts of previous pipelines, and climate scientists have tools to calculate emissions impacts up- and downstream. Pretending construction of new pipelines will have no impact on communities or the climate is reckless, and it's time FERC's process is grounded in reality.
FERC has enabled fracked gas companies to run roughshod over communities for decades. It's time that changed. Opening up its pipeline review process for public comments is a step in the right direction. Join us in demanding that it results in meaningful change.
Onward together,
Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Watch
Food & Water Watch and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Action, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate. This email was sent to [email protected] - and we're glad you got it, because it's one of the most important ways you can reclaim political power, hold elected officials accountable and resist corporate control.
