The Scope of FERC's Review

The report asserts that FERC is legally obligated under the Natural Gas Act and the Administrative Procedure Act to conduct environmental justice analyses by considering the existing burdens of communities where new gas infrastructure is proposed. It argues that ignoring these compounding social and environmental costs would violate the requirement for reasoned decisionmaking, regardless of recent administrative memoranda directing agencies to avoid such assessments.

• The Natural Gas Act (NGA) and the Administrative Procedure Act mandate that FERC evaluate localized and compounding social and environmental harms to determine if authorizing gas infrastructure—such as interstate pipelines, compressor stations, and liquefied natural gas export facilities—is in the public interest.
• A valid public interest assessment requires an environmental justice analysis because infrastructure placed in disadvantaged or heavily polluted communities may result in higher social costs due to synergistic effects with existing burdens.
• FERC's statutory obligations to engage in reasoned decisionmaking and consider direct harms to overburdened communities cannot be overridden by a memorandum directing agencies to avoid environmental justice assessments.

APA

Pals, J. D. B. (2026). The Scope of FERC's Review. Institute for Policy Integrity. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/the-scope-of-fercs-review

Chicago

Pals, Jennifer Danis, Bridget. The Scope of FERC's Review. Institute for Policy Integrity, 2026. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/the-scope-of-fercs-review.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pals |first1=Jennifer Danis, Bridget |title=The Scope of FERC's Review |publisher=Institute for Policy Integrity |date=27 April 2026 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/the-scope-of-fercs-review |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pals2026scope, author = {Pals, Jennifer Danis, Bridget}, title = {{The Scope of FERC's Review}}, institution = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/the-scope-of-fercs-review}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }