FERC Denies Enviros' Request to Delay Construction of Northeast Upgrade Project
On January 11, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order denying a joint request by three environmental groups to delay the construction of Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C.’s (TGP) Northeast Upgrade Project in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. FERC found that the environmental groups had not shown that they would be irreparably harmed by allowing the Project to go forward, and that the agency had complied with the National Environmental Policy Act in considering the environmental impacts of the Project. According to a January 10, 2013 press release, two of the environmental groups have filed a separate challenge to FERC’s approvals of the Project in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Additionally, as noted in a previous post, TGP recently filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block an administrative challenge to the Project before Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board.