Sierra Club v. United States Department of Energy

867 F.3d 189 (2017)

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Sierra Club v. United States Department of Energy

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
867 F.3d 189 (2017)

CR

Facts

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) (defendant) approved a proposal to export liquefied natural gas from the Freeport Terminal, located on an island off the coast of Texas. The Sierra Club (plaintiff) challenged this approval in federal district court. It argued that the DOE failed to adequately analyze the indirect effects and cumulative impacts that exporting natural gas would have on the environment. More specifically, the Sierra Club argued that the environmental-impact statement (EIS) for the project did not thoroughly analyze how authorizing the export of liquefied natural gas might increase production and how that increase in production might impact waterways and ozone concentrations. The DOE admitted that it did not provide the detailed analysis that the Sierra Club sought but claimed that it was not required to do so because the impacts were not concrete and reasonably foreseeable. The district court rejected the Sierra Club’s challenge, and the Sierra Club appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Wilkins, J.)

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