By Ted Glick
On August 3rd, rubber-stamping FERC, the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, ordered a suspension of any new construction of
the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Then, one week later, on August 10th, they did the same thing for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
News stories about these suspensions report that they are expected to
last for months. Both came in each case after federal Court of Appeals
decisions revoking permits by other federal agencies just days before
FERC’s actions.
How big are these two proposed fracked-gas-carrying pipelines? They
are very big; between them they would run for 900 miles. MVP would run
through West Virginia and Virginia, and ACP would run from West Virginia
to North Carolina.
But these aren’t the only things which happened in this week to remember. On August 10th, Robert Powelson stepped down as one of five FERC commissioners after
less than a year in the job.
Republican Powelson was nominated by Trump
in 2017, along with Republicans Kevin McIntyre, as chair, and Neil
Chatterjee. Trump also nominated Democrat Richard Glick. He had to
nominate a Democrat because of FERC rules allowing for no more than
three commissioners from one party.
Powelson’s resignation means that, until Trump nominates someone else
and the Senate confirms that nominee, there will be two Democrats and
two Republicans making up FERC’s decision-making body.
Up until about nine months ago, that wouldn’t have made any
difference when it comes to FERC’s decision-making on gas industry
expansion. For decades, it has been a bi-partisan rubber-stamper for all
but two of over 400 permit applications to build new gas pipelines,
compressor stations and other infrastructure.
Richard Glick has changed that. Glick has a background in the
renewable energy industry, going back many years, and his votes have
reflected his experience. He has dissented often on pipeline decisions,
and his willingness to do so seems to have affected the other Democrat,
Cheryl Lafleur, who has been a commissioner for eight years. Not as
frequently but sometimes, she has also dissented.
So it’s a very big deal that for most likely several months, very
possibly many months, especially but not only if Democrats win control
of the Senate, FERC has a leadership reflecting almost exactly the
50-50’ish political divisions in the Senate.
Click here for the full article.
Ted Glick has been a climate and climate justice activist since 2003
and a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. Past writings and
other information can be found at https://tedglick.com, and he can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jtglick.
Source: tedglick.com
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