Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ...... “now on - trial” ... !

From Michael M. Barrick, Appalachian Chronicle, September 18, 2020

WASHINGTON – Representatives from the VOICES Coalition (Victory Over InFRACKstructure, Clean Energy inStead), a coalition of over of over 350 grassroots activists, environmental leaders, lawyers, and experts, and 250 environmental organizations representing over 35 states, will hold a Virtual People’s Hearing to testify to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) extensive history of bias and abuse against the environment and the people in its approval of pipelines and fracked gas infrastructure.

It is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT.

Registration is required for the Webinar. One can register at this link:

bit.ly/RegisterVirtualHearing

Witnesses will share stories about their personal experiences, documenting the many instances in which FERC has skirted critical regulations and laws, infringed on states’ rights, hired biased consultants, and ignored requests for transparency.

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, who has been a leader in Congress on FERC oversight, will speak about the preliminary findings of an investigation by the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties showing that the natural gas pipeline approval process used by FERC unjustly tramples on the rights of private landowners.

These stories will demonstrate to Congress the need to reform this notoriously opaque agency.

Commissioners have rejected only one pipeline project in the past 30 years, allowing many others to continue no matter the environmental and human consequences. The collection will substantiate what is already clear from FERC’s approval record: this unsupervised agency, funded by those it regulates, is unfit to serve.

To read the dossier of abuses of power and law by FERC documented by the VOICES Coalition and the Delaware Riverkeeper, visit:

bit.ly/DossierofFERCAbuse