ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20086
No(s). 20-1512 (D.C. Cir. May 26, 2023)

The D.C. Circuit granted in part environmental groups' petitions to review FERC orders allowing the Mountain Valley Pipeline project to proceed. The groups argued FERC erred by allowing construction to resume before the pipeline owner reacquired all its other permits, that constructing segments of the pipeline up to the border of Jefferson National Forest would pressure BLM and the Forest Service to allow construction within the forest, and that the Commission should have prepared a supplemental EIS before permitting construction to resume. The court denied most of the groups' claims, but agreed that FERC inadequately explained its decision not to prepare a supplemental EIS addressing unexpected erosion and sedimentation along the pipeline's right-of-way. It granted the petitions for review on that ground, but did not vacate the Commission's orders allowing work on the project to resume, and remanded to FERC to either prepare a supplemental EIS or provide a better explanation for why it is unnecessary.