A request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to issue a stop work order for the entirety of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project has yet to receive a response from the agency, as of mid-day December 21. The agency was asked December 13 to revoke the certificate for the ACP by the Southern Environmental Law Center in light of the decision that day by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate the U.S. Forest Service’s approval for the pipeline to cross national forest lands and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (ANST).
In the wake of the Fourth Circuit decision, an effort was undertaken by sponsoring companies of the ACP to convince Congress to enact legislation that would circumvent the Court’s ruling about the ANST crossing. To date, that legislative attempt does not appear to have been successful.
In the meantime, as reported in last week’s ABRA Update, construction activity on the ACP has been voluntarily terminated for now by the company because of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacating the Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement for the ACP.