Del. Riverkeeper Network v. FERC

摘要

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is entitled to judgment on claims al- leging it acted arbitrarily or capriciously in issuing Natural Gas Act conditional certificate of public convenience and necessity for pipeline project, because, even though claims brought by environmental group are not moot: (1) sequencing requirement of Clean Water Act requiring water quality certification before approval of projects was not violated by conditional approval that did not authorize any activities that might result in discharge in navigable waters absent water quality certification; (2) group did not seek administrative rehearing of letter orders authorizing pre-construction tree clearing for project as required under NGA to bring claim challenging letters; (3) even if FERC misclassified wetlands in National Environmental Policy Act environmental assessment, group did not establish any prejudice due to alleged errors; and (4) FERC adequately reviewed proposed gas flow velocities in EA for project.