The Trump Administration,
moved to limit the ability
of individual states
to use provisions of the
Clean Water Act (CWA)
to block energy projects.
The power generation,
and other energy,
industry sectors
previously battled lengthy
licensing and permitting
reviews, and rejections
based on climate change
arguments.
Environmental
Protection
Agency (EPA)
Administrator
Andrew Wheeler
signed a rule
that restricts the scope
of state reviews under
Section 401 of the
Clean Water Act.
Wheeler said
the EPA wants
“to make sure
we are limiting
the 401 process
just to water quality.”
noting the rule
excludes limits
on state reviews
of climate and air
pollution impacts.
Wheeler said,
“We have seen
too many times,
particularly in recent years,
particularly in the Northwest
and New York, the misuse
and abuse of 401 authority
for water quality when the
cited reason has nothing
to do with water quality.
Today’s action
will end this abuse
of the Clean Water Act.”
The new rule
restricts the scope
of state reviews,
and places
a one-year deadline
for states to take
final actions on
a permit request
under the CWA.
Wheeler said
the one-year period is
“more than enough time”
for groups to study
and make decisions
about projects.
John Barrasso,
a Wyoming Republican,
singled out Washington
as an example of a state
that has abused the CWA.
Barrasso said Washington
state has “hijacked”
the permitting process
and blocked Wyoming
coal from being exported.
North Dakota Republican
Sen. Kevin Cramer said
Washington and
New York have used
the Clean Water Act
“as an excuse to disrupt
interstate commerce
and weaken energy
producing states
to try to score cheap
political points.”
California immediately
signaled it may take
legal action against
the new rule.
Another state
likely to challenge
is New York.
Wheeler chastised
New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo
for his failure
to support
the Constitution
natural gas pipeline,
a proposed 124-mile,
$1-billion project/
It was designed to connect
natural gas production
in Pennsylvania to markets
in the Northeast, with a
capacity to transport
650 million cubic feet
per day (MMcf/d)
of natural gas.
The 30-inch pipeline
would have extended
from Susquehanna
County in
Pennsylvania,
to the
Iroquois Gas
Transmission
and Tennessee
Gas Pipeline systems
in Schoharie County,
New York.
Williams,
a natural gas
infrastructure
company,
and its partners
—Duke Energy,
Cabot Oil & Gas,
and AltaGas—
abandoned the project
in February after an
eight-year
regulatory fight,
in which the
New York Department
of Environmental
Conservation (NYDEC)
denied the project
a water quality permit
in 2016.
Wheeler said denial of the
water quality permit in the
Constitution case
“was done under
the auspices
of climate change.
You won’t be able
to use 401 in the future
going forward citing
climate change
as the reason;
it would have to be
a water quality reason.”
On May 15, 2020,
Cuomo rejected
the New York segment
of the Northeast Supply
Enhancement (NESE)
project, a natural gas
pipeline that also
would have moved gas
from Pennsylvania
to the Northeast.
Wheeler has argued the
Northeast pipelines make
New England states
more dependent on
imported natural gas.
Thomas Pyle,
president of
the American
Energy Alliance,
said,
“President Trump and
EPA Administrator
Andrew Wheeler
were left with no choice
but to respond to the
blatant misuse of the
Clean Water Act by
New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo
and others.
Activist judges
and environmental
extremists
continue to misuse
the legal system
to prevent the safe and
responsible production
and transportation of
'America’s energy.
Today’s announcement
will limit at least one
of the weapons being used
to abuse our legal system.”