We must be doing something right because the Tennessee
Gas Pipeline Company seems to be running a bit scared and as a result is
lashing out in an effort to fully undermine state environmental protection in
this country. This week the Tennessee
Gas Pipeline Company (TGP) has stooped to bringing a legal action against both
the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, our co-plaintiffs, and the State of
Pennsylvania – and so whereas once Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the state
were at odds over this project, now we are apparent bed fellows and the
pipeline company is the adversary to us both.
This week TGP filed a complaint and a motion for
preliminary injunction against the Delaware Riverkeeper Network as well as the PA
Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) (then amended to name the individual EHB
judges) in federal district court for the Middle District of PA in Harrisburg.
The basis for the suit they claim is that the EHB doesn’t have jurisdiction to
hear our permit challenges for the TGP’s Northeast Upgrade Project (NEUP) because
it is pre-empted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). What they are saying is that as a matter of
federal law, FERC has occupied the field leaving no room for states to regulate
interstate natural gas pipelines. So
while the states must issue permits for pipeline projects to move forward, the
pipeline companies are claiming at the same time that the federal government
has so occupied the field of pipeline regulation that in fact there is no roll
for the states, as such the state permits cannot be challenged as legally
deficient and that deficiency cannot be used to stop a pipeline project.
Wow – that is quite a turn of events!
By way of further irony, on the Delaware River
deepening project it was the Army Corps backed by the State of Pennsylvania arguing
that the State of Delaware’s environmental protection laws were unenforceable
and irrelevant for the river deepening project.
Here we have the pipeline companies making a similar claim for pipelines
against Pennsylvania, i.e. that their environmental protection laws simply
don’t matter – that is karma for you.
And isn’t it also ironic that while Pennsylvania was pushing the
position that state environmental protection should be stripped when it came to
the State of Delaware’s environmental protection authority on the deepening
project, now the State of Pennsylvania finds itself the one at risk of being
stripped of its legal rights and authority.
And in both cases it was the Delaware Riverkeeper Network standing to
defend the environmental protection rights and obligations of the states to
fully enforce their laws so as to protect the citizens. We lost the argument for the deepening; let’s
hope we don’t lose it here.
The week of January 14 is the hearing on our
legal challenge to the Pennsylvania permits, unless of course the pipeline
company’s legal challenge changes that in some way.
Also this week, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network,
together with the NJ Highlands Coalition, filed an emergency motion in the DC
Circuit Court of Appeals asking for a stay of FERC’s order and notice to
proceed with construction of the TGP NEUP project. http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/resources/PressReleases/2013-01-10%20PR_FERC_challenge_TGP_NEUP.pdf
If the pipeline company tries to start this
project while all of these legal battles are still ongoing, I hope you will
consider standing with us and the trees to legally exercise your first amendment
rights to just say “no”. While the pipeline company may not care what the
States or what the laws have to say about their bad project; we citizens do
care about our environment, and the rule of law, and it is important we make
sure they know it.
January 12 we have another first amendments right
training for those who are interested. http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/about/event.aspx?Id=315
More power to you Maya and DRN! We're all with you.
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