Underground Construction - November 2021 - 13

Th e EIS decision is a recommendation
to the commissioners who may or may
not agree with it. Th e Republican-majority
commission has not been sympathetic
to the SCC tool, which is currently being
considered by the Biden Administration
for wide application by several regulatory
agencies with authority under the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). Th e SCC estimates the monetized
climate change damage associated with an
incremental increase in CO2 emissions, in
a given year.
Th e fi nal staff EIS gave reasons
for not using the SCC, including its
" methodological limitations (e.g., diff erent
discount rates introduce substantial
variation in results and no basis exists to
designate a particular monetized value as
signifi cant) that limit the tool's usefulness
in our review under NEPA and the
Commission's decision under the NGA. "
Th at is the Natural Gas Act.
Not only will a Democratic voting
majority strengthen the potential for the
FERC to use the SCC methodology, but it
already got encouragement, of a sort, in
August. Th e court issued a ruling on LNG
projects and associated pipelines in Texas,
rapping the knuckles of FERC for failing to
do a diligent analysis of the signifi cance of
those projects in terms of GHG emissions.
NEPA requires that signifi cance judgment.
Th e court suggested one way the FERC
could make that judgment would be by
using an SCC analysis. Th e court did not
tell the FERC to pull its prior certifi cates
awarded to those LNG projects, but FERC
is required to take some action in response
to the court's mandate. Th at action has not
yet been forthcoming.
Tennessee Gas argued in defending the
project: " Th e direct and indirect emissions
attributable to the project are minimal
when compared to global emission levels
and to the actual emissions inventories
and stated emissions goals of the United
States and each of the applicable states.
Th erefore, the emissions attributable to the
project are not signifi cant. "
Th e EPA was not the only outside force
pressing the FERC staff to use the SCC
tool. Th e Institute for Policy Integrity at
New York University School of Law argued,
when it submitted comments on the draft
EIS for East 300 Upgrade project:
" Yet, as the social cost metrics reveal,
approval of the proposed action could
result in over $128 million in annual
climate costs from downstream
emissions. Th is substantial cost bears
heavily on assessing whether the project
is, in fact, in the public interest, and
FERC's failure to consider the severity
and magnitude of the project's climate
impacts is insuffi cient under NEPA
and the NGA. Th e Commission should
therefore apply these social cost metrics
to assess climate harm as it continues to
evaluate the project. " *
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Underground Construction - November 2021

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