Dems Seek to Remove O&G Pipes from CWA Nationwide Permit 12
The EPA issues permits, but using a 404 also triggers a review by state environmental agencies where the pipeline is being built. In the case of states, like NY, it means the state enviro agency can….
Dems Seek to Remove O&G Pipes from CWA Nationwide Permit 12
ANTI-DRILLING/FOSSIL FUEL | INDUSTRYWIDE ISSUES | PIPELINES | REGULATION
April 18, 2024
The devious left is at it again. In their hatred of fossil energy, the Democrat Party is targeting a little-known portion of the Clean Water Act (CWA), called a Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), that is often used to streamline the construction of new oil and gas pipelines. NWP12 was used, in part, to construct the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia. The Dems are leaning on the Bidenistas to “review” the NWP12 and to revise the regulation to exempt its use to build oil and gas pipelines. Yet another attack from the Democrats on oil and gas.
As the article below explains, there are a couple of different ways of building a new federally-sanctioned pipeline project. One is to get a permit from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a “404” permit (references a particular section of the CWA, section 404). The EPA issues such permits, but using a 404 also triggers a review by state environmental agencies where the pipeline is being built. In the case of Democrat-controlled “blue” states, like New York, it means the state enviro agency can easily kill a project.
An NWP12 permit is issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. It reduces red tape and bypasses state reviews. The authoritarians on the left don’t like it because it takes ultimate power out of their greedy hands. And so, the effort is on (has been on since the beginning of the Biden administration) to revise the NWP12 permit to eliminate oil and gas pipelines, an effort just now coming to light.
Gas industry groups are closely watching an ongoing federal review of a key Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting program with big implications for pipelines and other gas projects, as Democrats are leaning on the Biden administration to hurry along the process.
The review, while somewhat under the radar, is significant because changes to the permitting process could create a much stricter regulatory regime for constructing pipelines — and potentially impact gas production sites as well.
Under the CWA, construction activities requiring discharge of “dredge-and-fill” sediment and other material into federally regulated streams, tributaries and waterways are governed by so-called 404 permits. Issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they require sign-off from multiple agencies and a broad scope of review that often drags on for months and becomes subject to litigation.
The 404 permits also trigger state-level water quality reviews that have previously allowed blue states such as New York to stall or block interstate gas pipelines, or become ensnared in court battles like with the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia.
Historically, under a streamlined general permit overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers rather than the EPA, a huge chunk of oil and gas activity — including large pipeline segments, repairs and wellpad construction — has been allowed to take advantage of the lighter regulatory touch. Known as nationwide permit 12 (NWP12), the permit allows midstream developers and other operators to bypass the costlier and more time-consuming 404 application process.
Early in the Biden administration, the Corps quietly began considering revisions to NWP12, including whether to continue allowing oil and gas activity to be covered under it. Prompted by President Joe Biden’s executive order that directed federal agencies to examine their rules and regulations to ensure adequate environmental stringency, the Corps announced the formal review in March 2022.
‘Concerns Have Reemerged’
Gas trade groups have been nervously watching the process. Although the current NWP12 does not expire until 2026, the fear is that the administration was conducting the review early with the intent to lock in more scrutiny of pipelines and other oil and gas projects before the November election.
“We want to be able to ensure that natural gas pipeline companies can continue to use those nationwide permits,” one gas industry source said.
When things seemed to go quiet on the review last year, tensions eased somewhat. “But those concerns have reemerged” in recent weeks after a cadre of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Michael Connor, urging the agency to rescind the permit, said Parker Moore, an attorney with the firm Beveridge & Diamond who represents energy companies.
The Mar. 8 letter, signed by US Sens. Cory Booker (New Jersey), Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Edward Markey (Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (Vermont), asks for an update and a timeline for completing the review.
“Fast-tracking of oil and gas infrastructure projects through NWP 12 threatens neighboring communities, the local environment, endangered species, and tribal sovereignty, and contributes to the climate crisis,” the senators wrote. “The Corps’ review of NWP 12 is necessary to prevent oil and gas infrastructure projects from continuing to bypass the public interest review and circumvent study of the impacts of new fossil fuel infrastructure on the climate emergency.”
The Corps “is still considering options for the path forward on Nationwide Permit 12,” said Doug Garman, a spokesman for the Corps.*
Do you see why it is SO CRITICAL to have a Republican in the White House? This kind of attack would not happen under a GOP administration.
*Energy Intelligence/Bridget DiCosmo (Apr 12, 2024) – Gas Industry Fears Emergence of Stricter Permitting Process