D.C. Circuit Rules in Favor of FERC’s Inaction on Puerto Rico’s Pipeline Proposal

D.C. Circuit Rules in Favor of FERC's Inaction on Puerto Rico's Pipeline Proposal

The Court's decision added that FERC provided "prudential" reasons for forgoing immediate enforcement to "stabilize Puerto Rico's electrical grid in preparation for the 2023 hurricane season."

Contacts

Robert Valencia, [email protected]

On Friday, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that FERC's decision to allow the unlawful expansion of a pipeline in the San Juan, Puerto Rico Bay area was an unenforceable act of enforcement discretion, rather than an unlawful approval-without all the required public participation and environmental review processes-of that infrastructure.

The Court's decision added that FERC provided "prudential" reasons for forgoing immediate enforcement to "stabilize Puerto Rico's electrical grid in preparation for the 2023 hurricane season." Nevertheless, blackouts still plague the archipelagoas it continues to be beholden to an obsolete electrical grid.

The D.C. court viewed the San Juan Bay terminal as operating without FERC's approval and underscored that FERC's decision to give the terminal operator a pass was due to the particular 'grave emergency' of Puerto Rico's electric grid.

"We are highly disappointed in the court's decision and are evaluating our options," said Jenny Cassel, senior attorney at Earthjustice. "We will not stop working toward a truly clean-powered, just future for Puerto Rico. Federal agencies should not appease dirty corporate polluters who build first and ask permission later, as NFE has too often done."

In April, Earthjustice attorneys argued on behalf of community organizations in the archipelago that FERC had allowed New Fortress Energy, through its Puerto Rico subsidiary NFEnergía, to install and operate the pipeline without the legally required environmental and statutory review. At the time, Earthjustice underscored that the Commission was obligated to complete a thorough public process in which it considered safety and human health risks before allowing the construction and operation of the pipeline.

New Fortress Energy's methane gas terminal, and the new pipeline, are located approximately 450 meters from a community of 1,646 residents, 40% of whom live below the poverty line. Almost 25% of residents are above the age of 60, while another fifth is younger than 18. The Metropolitan Detention Center houses about 1,072 incarcerated individuals in a half-mile radius. NFEnergía is placing over 2,700 people in this already burdened community to new dangers.

The San Juan Harbor is the entry point of 80 percent of the goods distributed across the archipelago, including food. An explosion at the terminal could devastate Puerto Rico's infrastructure and cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

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