Member-only story
The last week is totally unlike any that I have experienced as a climate/climate justice activist and organizer in the 17 years I have had this issue as my main focus of social change work. All of a sudden, there have been four major victories here in the US.
The week began last Tuesday, June 30, with a huge, resounding defeat for FERC. The DC US Court of Appeals, by a 10–1 vote, ruled that FERC’s maddening, “Kafkaesque” (in the words of the court decision) practice of tolling was illegal.
What is “tolling?”
Under the regulations FERC follows, after they decide to give a permit for expansion of gas infrastructure to a pipeline or other company, those opposed to that expansion need to file an appeal of that decision with FERC before they can go to court to challenge it. FERC then needs to respond to that appeal within 30 days, by law. So what FERC has been doing for at least a decade is to respond on that 30th day, ruling that they need more time to make a decision. Sometimes it takes them 15 months to make that decision, but more insidious, they often allow companies to use eminent domain to take land and to begin construction while they are deciding. There are instances where, by the time FERC makes its decision, the pipeline, compressor station and/or other gas infrastructure is up and running. And guess what else? They ALWAYS decide not to overturn their initial decision!
Why did it take the courts so long to finally outlaw this obscene FERC practice? Good question! But I…
