Put That in Your Pipeline and Smoke It, FERC

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been captured. It has been captured by the very industries it is supposed to regulate--particularly pipeline companies.  It is an agency that has become so entangled with industry that it is violating the constitutional rights of communities and families across the nation. 
Sound unfairly harsh? Well, remember that the United States Constitution requires that federal government agencies like FERC be neutral in the decisions they make. In fact, James Madison’s sacred document declares that they must be free not just from actual bias—but from the mere appearance of bias. FERC fails both tests. Here’s why: alone among independent executive agencies of government with this level of adjudicatory authority, FERC receives full funding from the companies it regulates. That’s like having a basketball referee be paid his salary by one of the teams in the game. No wonder FERC keeps giving slam dunks to the pipeline companies.

Consider:

• ·             FERC regularly uses a legal loophole that prevents people, environmental and community protection organizations from being able to challenge pipeline projects before FERC allows them to go into construction;

• ·             FERC approves pipeline projects, even allowing them to begin construction, before the states have determined whether they will grant Clean Water Act approvals entrusted into their authority. That’s despite that the law that the state determination must come first;

• ·             FERC allows pipelines to begin construction before federal wetland permits have been granted, thereby undermining their ability to protect natural resources and communities; and

• ·             When pipeline companies are caught violating environmental and community protection laws, without exception FERC fails to issue penalties as a deterrent to future violations or to issue stop work orders to ensure pollution issues are addressed before construction is allowed to continue.

And the list goes on.

In response to this lengthy track record of partiality, on March 2^nd the Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed a lawsuit to challenge FERC’s violation of the fifth amendment of our US Constitution, which guarantees due process before the U.S. government can take a life, liberty or property interest. 

Until the lawsuit was filed, FERC’s Commissioners had an incredible 100 percent approval rating of pipeline projects presented to them for review. A week after the lawsuit, FERC, for the first time since it became self-funding, denied a pipeline project.  The obvious violations of law, policy and constitutional rights so clearly laid out for public display in our lawsuit seemingly sparked embarrassment and action by FERC. 

Does this mean we can expect a change at FERC?  Unfortunately not.

The action doesn’t change the underlying problems with FERC’s unconstitutional funding structure – it simply offers cover for FERC to claim it is not a rubber stamp for the industry it oversees. But a stamp made of 99 percent rubber is still a rubber stamp.

FERC’s seal of approval grants pipelines the power of ‘eminent domain,’ which is the legal authority to confiscate private property rights. FERC can force people to live next to pipelines and compressor stations which pollute the air, causing deadly harm to human health and millions in property damage. Pipelines are granted authority to cut through public parks and preserved forests, undermining the hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars and private donations committed to save these precious lands for present and future generations.  Pipelines get the authority to cut through farm lands and businesses of all kind, even though the lines undermine, and in some cases destroy, these entrepreneurs’ economic success and viability. 

FERC has crowned itself king and the pipeline companies its queen – believing they are above the constitution, the congress, the states, and the people. 

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s legal challenge is paralleled by an effort of nearly 250 organizations asking Congress to empower the Government Accountability Office to conduct an independent investigation into FERC. No champion in Congress has yet come to the fore. That’s disappointing, because many of them have spoken out against the pipelines barreling through the FERC process and cutting through hundreds of properties, parks and businesses across our nation.

But we are hopeful that a brave soul in Congress will emerge. After all, while FERC has fracked-gas dollars on its side. We have the Constitution and the American landscape on ours. And they are priceless.

If you want to help us find our Congressional Champion so we can secure an Independent Investigation into the Abuse of Process and Law by the  Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) please:

Send a letter to all of your federal senators and congressional representatives with just one click:  http://bit.ly/GAOFERC

Sign on to our organizational letter (if you are representative of an organization being sent to congressional representatives and if you are an individual also sign our petition.

 If you are the leader of an organization concerned about the abuse of power at FERC you can sign on to our organizational sign on letter at:  http://bit.ly/SignOnGAOReview

 If you are an individual that wants to join the call, please sign our petition and pass it on at:    http://bit.ly/DRN-PetitionToReviewFERC

FERC is a blatantly biased agency that doesn’t just favor the pipeline companies over the public, but actively works to help advance pipelines, including by stripping the public of our legal rights to challenge projects in the courts.

A Government Accountability Office Review of FERC could help to shine the light of day on the abuses of FERC and help all of the communities and environments being devastated by the construction and operation of fracked gas pipelines and LNG export facilities.  

(First published:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/help-shine-a-light-on-fer_b_9540468.html)

Civil Disobedience to Battle Back the Pipelines

Every month, inside the walls of glass and concrete of a Washington, DC, office building, the the

But there is a point when people get fed up and finally fight back. When they are forced to disobey unjust laws. “There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression,” as Martin Luther King, Jr. put it. For many Americans, that time has come. And unless FERC ceases its ways, that time will come for many more.  

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approves major new pipeline projects, the expansion of existing projects, pipeline compressors, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities—all without question or regard for their impact on people, the environment, or future generations. Imagine a government agency with power but not accountability. You’ve just imagined FERC.

   

In January, FERC issued an order permitting a multinational company to seize and cut 80 percent of the trees in a forest in New Milford Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and replace them with a natural gas pipeline. That forest has belonged to the Holleran family since the 1950s.  The property is where the Hollerans live and also where, each year, they tap 300 maple trees to make maple syrup, turning what was a backyard maple hobby into a family business, North Harford Maple.

FERC permitted the tree cutting even though the Constitution pipeline had not yet received a Clean Water Act approval from the state of New York, without which the NY portion of the pipeline cannot be built.

In the face of FERC’s tyranny, the Hollerans—and dozens of their neighbors—stood by their beloved trees as chainsaw-wielding men came to destroy the family farm. "This is our land and family business and we just staged our equipment to set up for this year's syrup production," said a member of the Holleran family. Police were called but refused to evict the family from its own land without a court order.
 

The Constitution Pipeline company then took the Hollerans to court to prevent the family and  

community from defending their rights. A court agreed with the company, and soon the Hollerans’ land will be destroyed for a proposed pipeline that could devastate the surrounding environment and significantly contribute to the destruction of the planet.

Farmers, homeowners, land trusts, businesses, schools and towns across the nation are being threatened by natural gas pipelines like the Constitution Pipeline -- homes, livelihoods, businesses and lands are being decimated despite the staunch opposition of the property owners. Communities are rising up in opposition despite knowing that approval of the pipelines by FERC is virtually guaranteed – we know this because FERC has never rejected a pipeline proposal brought before its Commissioners for at least the last 40 years. If you saw a game where the hitter scored a home run every time he was at bat, you would know the game was rigged. Well, so is this one.

FERC’s abuses are rampant: they range from prohibiting the public from commenting during its meetings to sanctioning pipeline construction before companies even possess the required permits.

As a result, many families are forced to resort to civil disobedience. They do so not with pleasure but with reluctance. They do so knowing that disrespecting unjust laws shows the highest respect for just laws.  

We cannot leave these families by themselves. They need allies willing to fight FERC.

Over 237 organizations from across America have stepped up to be just these allies: they have urged Congress to direct the Government Accountability office to investigate FERC and identify much-needed legal reforms.

But until and unless FERC respects the rights of people to their land, we will see more individuals

following in the footsteps of Dr. King. The Civil Rights Movement began with a few simple but brave, important acts: a refusal to change seats on a bus, a sit-in at a diner, a protest in support of equal access to good schools. Despite the many attempts to ignore, dismiss, and overshadow these acts, the Civil Rights Movement grew and the power of its message and substantive validity finally gained widespread acceptance and, eventually, lionization.

That is the path of today’s environmental movement. It reflects the growing opposition to drilling, fracking and all the infrastructure pipelines, compressor and LNG export facilities that are destroying communities and environments to service the fossil fuel industry. It isn’t going away.

What Can You Do To Help?

Support an Independent Investigation into the Abuse of Process and Law by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Including Its Blatant Bias in Approving Pipeline Projects.

Send your letter to all of your federal senators and congressional representatives with just one click:  http://bit.ly/GAOFERC

In addition:

1      

2      If you are the leader of an organization concerned about the abuse of power at FERC you can sign on to our organizational sign-on letter at: http://bit.ly/SignOnGAOReview

If you are an individual that wants to join the fight, please sign our petition and pass it on at: http://bit.ly/DRN-PetitionToReviewFERC

 (First Published:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/protecting-our-rights-isn_b_9347734.html)