ELR Citation: 48 ELR 20121
No(s). 17-1002 (D.C. Cir. Jul 17, 2018)

The D.C. Circuit denied an environmental group's petition to review FERC orders authorizing facilities to export natural gas from the United States to Mexico. The group argued that FERC, in addition to exercising jurisdiction over the export facilities at the border, also should have exercised jurisdiction over the intrastate pipeline delivering gas to the border and that the pipeline should have been subject to NEPA review even if it wasn't subject to FERC's direct regulatory authority. But the court disagreed, concluding that the pipeline is a non-jurisdictional intrastate pipeline subject to regulation by the state of Texas, but not to federal regulation. Because no federal action was required to authorize the pipeline's construction, there were no connected federal actions, and thus a NEPA review was not required. The court therefore denied the group's petition for review.