Court Upholds Transco Pipeline Approval, Criticizes FERC’s Administrative Limbo

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Aug 2 upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company’s Atlantic Sunrise Project, finding that the agency acted lawfully under circuit precedent.

The court rejected arguments that the agency improperly conducted its environmental assessment, failed to substantiate the market need for the project, and denied them due process by authorizing construction before a judicial review. Judge Patricia Millett, in a concurring statement, criticized the agency for keeping landowners in administrative limbo while pipeline developers seize their properties and move forward with construction.

The natural gas project received FERC approval in February 2017 to deliver 1.7 million dekatherms per day of year-round firm transportation capacity from northern Pennsylvania to its existing southeastern market areas.
Transco is a unit of Williams Companies Inc.