Energy Regulator Urged to Reject Gas Projects on Equity Grounds

Environmental justice advocates told US energy regulators on Wednesday to halt more natural gas projects in communities burdened by decades of pollution.

Environmental justice must be “more than just words on paper,” said Ben Jealous, executive director of Sierra Club. “It needs to be a basis to deny permits for projects when there’s specific evidence projects will have significant harm to communities that are already burdened.”

“Failure to do so, frankly, means communities get poisoned,” Jealous added.

The comments came at the outset of a daylong conference on environmental justice and equity in the permitting process hosted by the Federal ...