Shitstain's Push For Energy "Dominance" Helped Doom Atlantic Coast Pipeline - Sloppy Legal Work Key
The legal and environmental troubles that helped doom the Atlantic Coast pipeline project have roots in the Trump administration's attempts to speed it up. Directly, the challenges to the now-cancelled natural gas transmission pipeline resulted from a concerted legal effort by environmental groups and local opponents to stop the project, and judges who gave them a sympathetic ear.
But many of the problems cited by the judges who stalled construction were first raised by federal scientists and land managers, according to court records and correspondence obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Those career officials were often overruled when higher-ups in the Trump administration agreed to accelerate the approval process. The orders to speed things up came after a lobbying scramble by the lead developer of the project, Dominion Energy Inc.
"If they'd put as much effort into fixing those problems as they did in getting meetings at the higher level, they'd have gotten it done a lot sooner," said Clyde Thompson, a national forest supervisor who was deeply involved in the process of permitting the pipeline before retiring in early 2018.
The Dakota Access pipeline, temporarily shut down yesterday by a federal judge, has a similar dynamic. President Trump ordered the project revived and accelerated on day five of his presidency. But a federal judge found "serious gaps" in the administration's National Environmental Policy Act review and yesterday ordered the line shut down while a new review is completed (Greenwire, July 6). The twin blows to the Atlantic Coast and Dakota Access projects highlight the risks of Trump's decision to pin hopes of reviving the virus-stunned economy on clearing away environmental reviews (Greenwire, June 12). In another setback for Trump's "energy dominance" agenda, the Supreme Court yesterday kept in place an order blocking construction on the Keystone XL pipeline.
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https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063518775
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