Trump poised to launch an effort to limit states' powers to regulate energy projects like pipelines.

[riversedge]

Push push push and waste tax money on law suits damn!!




The Trump administration appears poised to launch an effort to limit states’ powers to regulate energy projects like pipelines—but it will likely find itself in yet another legal battle if it does so.

Link to tweet

States' Rights? Not When It Comes to Pipeline Permitting.


https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/states-rights-not-when-it-comes-pipeline-permitting?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=sierramag&utm_medium=national_social
Trump administration looks to undermine states’ powers under Clean Water Act

Photo by black_shogun/iStock

By Matt Smith | Feb 5 2019

The Trump administration appears poised to launch an effort to limit states’ powers to regulate energy projects like pipelines—but it will likely find itself in yet another legal battle if it does so.

The administration is reportedly considering whether to issue an executive order to make an end run around states’ ability to effectively block infrastructure projects that pass through their jurisdictions. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act allows states to block a project if they find it will endanger its waterways, and since Trump took office, some states have made use of this provision.

New York’s state government, for example, used the Clean Water Act to block a natural gas pipeline from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania into the Northeast. Washington State denied a permit for a planned coal export terminal on the Columbia River, citing the same provision.

“For an administration hell-bent on building as much fossil fuel infrastructure as they can, as fast as they can, it’s certainly true that 401 gums up the works,” said Pat Parenteau, who teaches environmental law at Vermont Law School. “If they can think of some way of ungumming the works, they’ll do it.”

The Trump administration has made “energy dominance” a guiding star of its domestic policies and has vowed to revive the flagging US coal industry and boost oil and gas production. The administration has rolled back regulations on fossil fuels, announced its intention to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, and moved to scrap higher gas mileage standards for vehicles. It also laid out a goal of getting major energy projects through regulatory approval within two years. ..........................


But the Clean Water Act’s language is “a direct grant of authority from Congress to the states,” Parenteau said. Which makes it harder to navigate around.

“They [administration officials] have no legal authority to direct the states how to direct their 401 authority or anywhere else,” he said. And a White House attempt to assert that authority is likely to face a swift challenge, he said. ......................

[Historic NY]

1. Really states rights...