Category: Environmental

FERC Responds Quickly and Decisively to D.C. Circuit Remand in Sabal Trail Matter on Downstream GHG Analysis

Michael L. Krancer, Margaret A. Hill, and Stephen C. Zumbrun

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) weighed in rapidly and decisively on the Sabal Trail (a/k/a Southeast Market Pipelines or “SMP Project”) case that the D.C. Circuit remanded to it on August 22, 2017.[1] As previously discussed in greater detail by Frederick M. Lowther and Frank Tamulonis, the D.C. Circuit ruled that, in approving the SMP Project, FERC did not but should have considered potential “downstream” greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions from power plants burning natural gas supplied by the pipeline when preparing the final environmental impact statement (“FEIS”) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). In vacating and remanding to FERC, the D.C. Circuit concluded that “at a minimum, FERC should have estimated the amount of power plant carbon emissions that the pipelines will make possible” or if FERC was unable to quantify this amount, FERC should have “explained more specifically why it could not have done so.” Continue reading “FERC Responds Quickly and Decisively to D.C. Circuit Remand in Sabal Trail Matter on Downstream GHG Analysis”

Appellate Division Clears Way for Business Entities to Receive Brownfield Innocent Party Grants When Property Is Transferred among Family Members

Kevin R. Doherty

The New Jersey Appellate Division recently lessened the rigidity by which an innocent purchaser may be eligible for a so-called “Innocent Party Grant” to cover costs associated with the remediation of contaminated property. On September 20, 2017, the Court in Cedar Knolls 2006, LLC v. New Jersey Dep’t of Envtl. Prot.[1] reversed the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (“NJDEP”) attempt to limit Innocent Party Grants to natural persons, and found that an LLC may qualify as a “person” under the Brownfield and Contaminated Site Remediation Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10B-1, et seq. (“Brownfield Act”). Continue reading “Appellate Division Clears Way for Business Entities to Receive Brownfield Innocent Party Grants When Property Is Transferred among Family Members”

FERC Slaps Down State Overreach on Federal Jurisdictional Pipelines—Now Congress Needs to Act, Too

Michael L. Krancer, Frederick M. Lowther, and Margaret Anne Hill

FERC issued a key and very welcome decision on September 15, 2017, when it held that New York, by its passive aggressive handling of a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) §401 certification, had waived its authority to issue the certification. FERC here slaps down on States treating CWA certifications as political footballs to veto pipeline infrastructure projects without regard to law or facts but on politics and pressure by ideological anti-natural gas interest groups. Continue reading “FERC Slaps Down State Overreach on Federal Jurisdictional Pipelines—Now Congress Needs to Act, Too”

Mountain Valley Pipeline: West Virginia Cements the Need for FERC and Congressional Action to Curb State Overreach on FERC Jurisdictional Pipelines

Michael L. Krancer, Frederick M. Lowther, and Margaret Anne Hill

As we have noted in our prior blog posts on the Constitution Pipeline and Millennium Valley Lateral projects, §401 of the Federal Clean Water Act has become a focal point in the growing efforts by States to exercise dominant authority over FERC jurisdictional pipelines. This time, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) has taken the unprecedented step of actually revoking a §401 certification it had granted in March 2017 and then reaffirmed in May. This action by WVDEP may be the final straw in State authority to review FERC jurisdictional pipelines as FERC and the Congress will be energized to react to the oversteps by New York in Millennium and now West Virginia in Mountain Valley. Continue reading “Mountain Valley Pipeline: West Virginia Cements the Need for FERC and Congressional Action to Curb State Overreach on FERC Jurisdictional Pipelines”

Millennium’s Valley Lateral Project: Yet Another New York State Veto under the Clean Water Act

Frederick M. Lowther and Michael L. Krancer

On August 30, 2017, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“NYSDEC”) issued a two-page letter (signed by the General Counsel of NYSDEC), which denies “conditionally” a water quality certification under §401 of the Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”). As with the two prior denials (noted below), this denial has the effect of preventing construction of the eight-mile Valley Lateral Pipeline, which is part of the Millennium Pipeline intended to serve the 680 MW gas-fired CPV Valley Energy Center in Wayawanda, Orange County, NY, currently under construction. The “conditional” denial becomes unconditional in the event Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) does not grant NYSDEC’s petition to FERC filed last month to reconsider its approval of the line in light of “new law,” namely the recent D.C. Circuit decision Sierra Club v. FERC, 2017 WL 3597014 (D.C. Cir., August 22, 2017) (“Sierra Club”). Continue reading “Millennium’s Valley Lateral Project: Yet Another New York State Veto under the Clean Water Act”

D.C. Circuit Significantly Expands the Scope of FERC Pipeline Reviews

Frederick M. Lowther and Frank L. Tamulonis III

In an abrupt departure from long-standing precedent, the D.C. Circuit ruled on August 22, 2017 that, in approving a natural gas pipeline project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) failed to consider potential “downstream” greenhouse gas emissions from power plants burning natural gas supplied by the pipeline when preparing an environmental impact statement (“EIS”) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). Continue reading “D.C. Circuit Significantly Expands the Scope of FERC Pipeline Reviews”

CONSTITUTION PIPELINE: The 2d Circuit Reaffirms a State’s Right to Veto a FERC-Approved Interstate Pipeline Project

Frederick M. Lowther

On August 18, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a long-awaited decision in Constitution Pipeline Company LLC v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation et al., Docket No. 16-1568 (“Constitution”). At issue—once again—was whether a single State (in this case, New York) has the power under §401 of the Federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §1341 (“CWA”), to deny a water quality certification for an interstate pipeline previously certificated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), when the effect of the denial is to veto a pipeline project that would serve multiple States. In 2008, the 2d Circuit determined that such a veto power exists. Islander East Pipeline Co. v. McCarthy, 525 F.3d 141 (2d Cir, 2008) (“Islander East”). Although the factual situation in Constitution differs in some respects (noted below) from that in Islander East, the end result is the same: if a State determines that a FERC-approved pipeline is not consistent with its water quality standards approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Court finds (as it did here) that the determination was not arbitrary and capricious (i.e., is supported by “sufficient evidence to provide rational support” for the denial, Constitution, sl. op. at 24), the federally-approved interstate pipeline cannot proceed. Continue reading “CONSTITUTION PIPELINE: The 2d Circuit Reaffirms a State’s Right to Veto a FERC-Approved Interstate Pipeline Project”

ERA Revisited: Solutions For Navigating An Uncertain Legal Landscape

Margaret Anne Hill, Michael L. Krancer, Frank L. Tamulonis III, and Stephen C. Zumbrun

On June 20, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its opinion in Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) v. Commonwealth, 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1393 (Pa. June 20), in connection with the so-called Environmental Rights Amendment or ERA (Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution). Suffice it to say, the opinion has reopened the debate as to the meaning of the ERA, and more importantly, how the ERA is implemented as a practical and legal matter. In brief, the court ruled that amendments to the state’s fiscal code (which sought to address budgetary shortfalls by redirecting money from a fund containing rents and royalties from oil and gas leases on commonwealth land to the general fund) violated the ERA. While the facts before the court were narrowly drawn, the court used the opportunity to revisit the decades old “test” applied in evaluating ERA claims, an issue it first addressed in its 2013 plurality opinion in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, 83 A.3d 901 (Pa. 2013). It abruptly rejected the well-established Payne v. Kassab test and roughly 45 years of ERA-related case law, thereby placing the ERA, and industry, back into legal limbo. Despite some legal uncertainty, this opinion should not be interpreted as a major stumbling block to key energy and infrastructure projects.

Continue reading “ERA Revisited: Solutions For Navigating An Uncertain Legal Landscape”

Recent D.C. Circuit Decision and Definition of Solid Waste

Stephen C. Zumbrun and Frank L. Tamulonis

In American Petroleum Institute (“API”) v. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), 2017 WL 2883867 (D.C. Cir. July 7, 2017), the D.C. Circuit upheld, severed, and vacated portions of a 2015 EPA final rule, Definition of Solid Waste, 80 Fed. Reg. 1,694, 1,738/3 (Jan. 13, 2015) (the “Final Rule”). As explained below, the court: 1) upheld “Factor 3” of the “legitimate recycling” test defined in the rule; 2) vacated “Factor 4” of the legitimate recycling test; 3) vacated the Verified Recycler Exclusion (“VRE”), thereby reinstating the Transfer Based Exclusion (“TBE”) while retaining emergency preparedness requirements for generators and expanded containment requirements; and 4) held that the court did not have jurisdiction to review a deferred action by the EPA on containment and notification conditions for materials, products, or processes specifically excluded from the definition of “solid waste.” Continue reading “Recent D.C. Circuit Decision and Definition of Solid Waste”

Blank Rome Launches Energy and Environmental Blog

Margaret A. Hill and Kevin J. Bruno

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new blog, Energy and Environmental Trends Watch, which will provide insight and analysis on the latest developments in energy and environmental law.

“Energy and environmental law are two of the most demanding practice areas for attorneys and clients due to nonstop developments in the energy industry and environmental activism,” said Margaret A. Hill, co-chair of the Firm’s Energy, Environment, and Mass Torts practice group. “Although the ever-changing landscape can be difficult to monitor, our seasoned attorneys have the necessary depth and knowledge to identify issues and cases in our blog that will enable you to better understand significant developments in these industries.”

“There is no question that we live in interesting, yet challenging, times in the energy space and our environmental regulatory scheme,” added Kevin J. Bruno, co-chair of the Firm’s Energy, Environment, and Mass Torts practice group. “We hope our blog can be a useful tool for our clients in being made aware of and understanding the latest trends in these areas.”

Our Energy and Environmental Capabilities
Blank Rome’s energy practice offers a full range of energy industry-specific services. With more than 60 attorneys practicing across the United States, the group provides strategic and forward-looking insight into an ever-evolving industry while also understanding the unique business concerns of our clients. Likewise, Blank Rome’s nationally recognized environmental practice covers every substantive area of environmental law. The group provides counsel to clients in every major business sector, municipal and county governments, and redevelopment authorities. Both groups are comprised of attorneys who bring a wealth of experience from diverse backgrounds in industry and government. The teams include former U.S. Secretary of Energy, former trial attorneys from the Department of Justice, former officials of the Environmental Protection Agency, and former assistant United States attorneys.

For more information, please contact us or visit Blank Rome’s Energy or Environmental practice pages.