Ferc Rejects Late PennEast Interventions

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) on March 29 rejected several late motions to intervene in PennEast Pipeline’s $1.13bn PennEast Project, which it approved on January 18.

The 17 late motions to intervene, one of which also requested a rehearing of Ferc’s approval, came mostly from individuals who identified themselves as landowners or taxpayers of communities impacted by the project. The motions were filed between February 8 and February 15 this year, more than two years after the initial intervention deadline of October 29, 2015, more than 16 months after the draft environmental impact statement intervention deadline of September 12, 2016 and several weeks after Ferc’s approval of the project.

“While the commission takes seriously the concerns of landowners and affected communities, such entities are not relieved of the obligation to demonstrate good cause for late intervention,” Ferc said in rejecting the motions. “As none of the movants have met the high burden to show good cause for moving to intervene after issuance of the dispositive Certificate Order, their motions are denied.”