ELR Citation: 46 ELR 20117
No(s). 14-1275 (D.C. Cir. Jun 28, 2016)

The D.C. Circuit dismissed environmental groups' petition challenging FERC's decision authorizing a liquefied natural gas company to redesign its terminal in Texas to support export operations. The groups argued that FERC's analysis of the proposal’s impact on the environment violated NEPA. But to the extent they complain about the environmental consequences of exporting natural gas from the terminal, those objections should be raised in a pending challenge to a DOE order authorizing the terminal to export natural gas. On the narrower question of whether FERC’s analysis of the non-export-related environmental consequences complied with NEPA, the court found no error that would rise to the level of arbitrary or capricious decisionmaking. The groups argued that FERC should have undertaken a nationwide analysis that included applications for several other liquefied natural gas export terminals that were pending or had already been granted across the United States. But a NEPA cumulative-impact analysis need only consider the “effect of the current project along with any other past, present or likely future actions in the same geographic area” as the project under review. Here, FERC considered the cumulative effects of the project that it was authorizing within the designated countywide region.