FERC’s Review Process Called ‘Kafkaesque’ by D.C. Cir. Judge

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to allow construction to begin on the Transcontinental Pipeline’s Atlantic Sunrise expansion was upheld by the D.C. Circuit Aug. 2.

FERC’s authorization of the project didn’t violate property owners’ Fifth Amendment right to not have their property taken for public use without due process of law, they said. The court also concluded that FERC hadn’t cut any corners with its environmental analysis that supported the certificate of public convenience granted to Transco.

But in a strongly worded concurring opinion, Judge Patricia Millett accused FERC of “twist[ing] our precedent into a Kafkaesque regime.” The circumstances ...