Federal Agency Lawfully Approved $39 Billion Alaska LNG Project

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lawfully authorized a liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday—denying environmental groups’ petition to review the decision.

The controversial $38.7 billion LNG project would build facilities to uptake gas and ready it for transportation through an 807-mile pipeline bisecting Alaska—exporting substantial volumes of natural gas for at least 30 years. The Biden administration approved the project April 13, despite objections from environmental groups who claim that the project could emit 50 millions tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club sought review, alleging that FERC’s approval of the project and its associated environmental impact statement violated the National Environmental Policy Act.

A three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected the groups’ claims that FERC didn’t adequately considered alternatives to the project. The commission considered reasonable alternatives but rejected them because they wouldn’t have furthered the project’s purpose or reduced environmental impacts, the judges said.

“CBD fails to provide any reason for this court to disturb the commission’s reasonable determinations,” Judge Neomi Rao wrote for the panel.

The commission also lawfully assessed the project’s cumulative effects on beluga whales and wetlands, Rao wrote. FERC’s decision not to consider the indirect effects of Alaska-bound gas was lawful, because the commission couldn’t reasonably identify the end users of the gas, the panel found.

The judges ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the groups’ claims that the commission unlawfully refused to employ the “social cost of carbon” metric to estimate the significance of the project’s direct greenhouse gas emissions, because the groups’ rehearing petition didn’t raise it.

Rao was joined by Judges Justin R. Walker and A. Raymond Randolph.

The CBD and the Sierra Club are represented by themselves and EarthJustice.

The Sierra Club has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.

The case is Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. FERC, D.C. Cir., No. 20-01379, 5/16/23.