DC Circuit Hearing - FERC Certificate - Friday, 12/7

Here we go, Fore River Campers! Our appeal will be heard in DC on Friday Dec. 7th. Our lawyer Carolyn Elefant will be arguing for us and the City of Quincy. Our attorney Mike Hayden will be sitting with Carolyn but, sadly, will not be able to present argument due to the short time allotment. If you would like to hear the arguments go here for instructions:

(from our friend, Karina): The lawyers for Weymouth and the Coalition will argue on Friday in Weymouth v. FERC that FERC should never have approved the Atlantic Bridge project until all the MA permits and reviews were completed, in particular an MA Coastal Zone Management Agency (CZMA) consistency review, as well as issues of environmental justice, safety and climate change. The background for the climate change arguments are spelled out in a recent Friend of the Court brief by 6 AG's, including MA's Attorney General Maura Healey, in another case in NY state against FERC and Dominion. See attached amicus brief.

"... New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia ... urge this Court to reject an erroneous interpretation of the National Environmental Procedure Act (NEPA) announced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a procedurally defective manner. By a 3-2 vote, FERC used an order on rehearing in an individual ... proceeding to announce a new policy to curtail its NEPA evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from the vast majority of natural gas infrastructure projects under its jurisdiction. FERC’s order on rehearing is inconsistent with its duty under NEPA to evaluate the “reasonably foreseeable” environmental impacts of such projects and appears designed to stymie public input on how FERC should account for the dire consequences of climate change when deciding whether to approve such projects."

Tune in Friday at 10:20am or so to hear the Weymouth case arguments: https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov