Transmission Line Vacatur Highlights Big Risks For Trump NEPA Strategy

摘要

An appellate court's recent decision to preserve its vacatur of a permit for a major transmission line, and instead order a lower court to determine if it can remand the permit without vacating it, is highlighting risks for the Trump administration's strategy of swiftly advancing major projects amid ongoing litigation over their environmental reviews. Regardless of what the courts ultimately decide, the decision is another example of the risks for under-construction infrastructure projects "posed by the regulatory 'streamlining and 'just say yes' approach the Trump administration favors," analysts at Clear View Energy Partners say in a recent research note. "If agencies fail to fulfill their legal requirements, and changes to agency regulatory guidance continue to lag, other projects may face similar risk." Clear View says these risks extend to several major natural gas pipelines that are under construction, including Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast, which are facing major delays due to successful appeals of NEPA reviews and other permits. At issue here is Dominion Virginia Power's Skiffes Creek transmission project, serving southeast Virginia. The utility activated the power lines just two days before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in March ruled in National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) v. Todd Semonite, et al. to vacate the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit. The court found that the Corps failed to conduct a stringent environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the project, which traverses the historic James River.