Submitting written comments on proposals
involving regulatory agencies' approval is one of the behind-the-scenes ways PennFuture
staff (our legal team as well as other staff) participates in
federal and state environmental issues. The proposed Atlantic Sunrise pipeline is
an example of a current case in which we submitted concerns that the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should consider.
Why
submit comments, you might ask -- and who reads them? By law, federal agencies
must consult the public in making rules and regulations. It's not just the
law -- it's good governance in a democracy. The process for involving the
American public in rulemaking has its origins in the New Deal of the 1930s,
when a large number of new programs and agencies -- including Social Security,
the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), and the National Labor Relations Board – were launched following the
Great Depression. Congress enacted a series of laws giving the public the means
to weigh in on the development
of rules that affect us, and requiring agencies to consider these submissions in the decisions and maintain them in a public record. For more on how that works (for policy wonks out there), the Congressional Research Service provides this detailed history.
PennFuture's written comments to FERC, submitted by staff attorney Mike Helbing, are now part of the public record on the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline,
which will cross 192 miles of Pennsylvania's lands and waterways from
Lancaster to Susquehanna counties. It is clear that this project will
create numerous environmental impacts across its route. We know that our
history as a Commonwealth has been marked by ill-conceived use and
misuse of our natural resources, leaving environmental devastation. This
pipeline project has major direct and indirect impacts that threaten water, air and land resources as well as public safety. To
prevent history from being repeated, it is important that each of these impacts be carefully considered before ground is broken for the new pipeline.
Among
the issues PennFuture raised are the potential for increased methane emissions,
additional forest fragmentation and subsequent decrease in wildlife habitat,
and water quality impacts. We emphasized to FERC the importance of performing a thorough cumulative impacts analysis
and considering the project’s indirect
effects as part of its Environmental Impacts Study (EIS).
So, what
happens next? The pipeline company will submit a formal application and FERC
will prepare the EIS, taking the public comments into consideration. Once
the EIS is complete, the public will again be given an opportunity to review
and comment on it before it is finalized.
(You can learn more about the process through FERC’s website.) Finally,
all written comments and public testimony submitted by the hundreds on this
pipeline are available at http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/docket_search.asp
(Search for Docket Number: PF14-8) --
and are a reminder of the role we as citizens can play in protecting our
natural resources and public health.
Kate Gibbons is PennFuture's Northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator.
