American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016 - 22

sources in March 2015, with a goal of
cutting emissions 40-45 percent below
2012 levels by 2025, and issued a final
rule in May 2016 (AOGR, June 2016,
pg. 34).
North Dakota is likely to be affected
significantly by the rule change, news
reports say. Since 2006, its annual
natural gas production has jumped from
63 billion cubic feet to more than 580
Bcf in 2015.
While the new regulations apply
only to new or modified wells, which
media sources note will not impact the
majority of North Dakota's wells, EPA's
May order included a draft information
collection request for information to be
used in promulgating a methane rule for
existing wells. ❒

Federal Court Upends
Lawsuits That Oppose
LNG Export Facilities
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia
has dismissed three legal challenges to
the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission's authorization of liquefied
natural gas export terminals.
In early July, the court rejected
arguments made by an anti-development
group that included the Patuxent
Riverkeeper against the Dominion Cove
LNG terminal in eastern Maryland.
According to court documents, the
appeals court turned away allegations
that FERC had failed to consider the
project's environmental impacts,
including the effects of increased natural
gas production for export.
An earlier case saw the Sierra Club
and Galveston Baykeeper argue FERC's
analysis of the environmental impacts
caused by the Freeport LNG site in
Quintana, Tx., and the Sabine Pass
facility in Cameron Parish, La., violated
the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969, court documents state.
In a pair of rulings issued June 28,
the court said environmental objections
to the conversion of the sites from LNG
imports to exports that the groups filed
should have been raised in the
Department of Energy's proceedings,
not during FERC's permitting process.
On the narrower question of whether
the environmental consequences of
exporting LNG comply with NEPA, the
court said it found no error in FERC's
analysis "that would rise to the level of
arbitrary or capricious decision making."
The two activist groups argued
FERC's NEPA analysis was faulty
22 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

because:
* It didn't consider the indirect
effect of inducing increased domestic
gas production.
* It didn't adequately analyze
cumulative environmental effects.
* It measured certain emissions in
pounds per megawatt-hour rather than
tons per year, leading FERC to
understate the project's emissions.
While NEPA obligates FERC to
consider direct and indirect
environmental impacts that are
"reasonably foreseeable," the court held
the agency didn't have to examine
everything "for which the projects
conceivably could be a 'but-for' cause."
The group's contention that FERC
should have weighed the increase in
domestic gas production fails because a
NEPA cumulative-impact analysis need
only consider the effect of a project
along with past, present or future
actions in the same geographic area, the
court said.
On the final count, the court held it
lacked jurisdiction to entertain that
argument.
According to media reports, the
Sierra Club plans to sue the Department
of Energy over its LNG export
permitting process. ❒

Federal Court Issues
Temporary Stay On EPA
Regional Haze Program
NEW ORLEANS-A federal court
has temporarily blocked the federal
government from implementing
regional haze regulations, saying Texas,
not Washington, should develop those
measures.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th
Circuit, ruling July 15 in State of Texas
v. U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, says the petitioners have
demonstrated a strong likelihood of
success on the merits of their arguments,
and are likely to suffer irreparable injury
in the absence of a stay. The decision
also denies EPA's motion to transfer the
case to the Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit.
Joining Texas in the lawsuit were
energy companies, power plants, state
regulators and a labor union, court
documents state. The petitioners filed a
lawsuit in February, arguing that EPA,
under the guise of requiring
imperceptible haze reductions, was
targeting coal-fired power plants. Court
documents say the petitioners predicted
the proposed changes would cost $2

billion, rendering the plants
uneconomical and forcing their closure.
Under the regional haze rule, states
develop state implementation plans
(SIP) for 2009-18, and submit revised
plans for each 10-year period thereafter,
court documents say. The initial state
plans were due Dec. 17, 2007. In
January 2009, EPA found that Texas and
36 other states had missed the deadline,
which triggered a two-year deadline for
the agency to promulgate a federal
implementation plan (FIP). Before EPA
released its FIP, Texas submitted a state
plan. Three years later, EPA issued a
limited disapproval of that effort.
EPA proposed a FIP in 2014 to
replace the part of its Texas SIP that it
found deficient. Two years later, the
federal agency promulgated a final rule
that partially disapproved the Texas SIP
and replaced those parts with federal
requirements for emissions controls.
Court documents indicate Texas
concluded that the FIP language
requiring it to achieve natural visibility by
2064 was unreasonable, and sued EPA.
The circuit ruling says the
association that manages the Texas
power grid concluded that EPA's
proposal would close plants and remove
as much as 8,400 megawatts of
generating capacity. "Until
infrastructure projects are completed or
new electrical generation facilities are
opened in the state, petitioners argue
that Texas could face power shortages
and grid failures because the federal
implementation plan does not include
any exemption for grid reliability," the
decision states. ❒

IOPA Tri-State To Hold
Picnic, Golf Tournament
MT. CARMEL, IL.-The
Independent Oil Producers Association
Tri-State will hold its annual picnic on
Friday, Sept. 16, at the Mt. Carmel City
Park and Golf Course.
The event includes a morning 18hole golf scramble and barbecue lunch,
the association says.
IOPA Tri-State asks member
companies to support the picnic by
purchasing advance tickets for
employees, special guests and
customers. Advance tickets cost $30.
The Mt. Carmel Golf Course will host
the golf scramble, which will feature a
shotgun start at 8 a.m., the association
says. Cost to participate in the scramble
is $40, which covers green fees and cart.
Golf registration after Sept. 6 will be $50
a golfer, and will depend on availability,
American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016

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