Ordinary people everywhere are standing up and fighting fossil fuel projects across the country. Trump and the fossil fuel industry are desperate to lock us into decades more of polluting fossil fuels by building new pipelines and other dirty infrastructure, but their agenda is being disrupted by grassroots organizing across the country to protect our water, communities, and climate.

This month was particularly exciting with five major developments in key fights across North America. Here are some of the stories, headlines, and landmark decisions.

  1. On August 22, an appeals court rejected the federal government’s approval of a natural gas pipeline project in the southeastern U.S., citing concerns about its impact on climate change.

    “In a 2-1 ruling, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) did not properly analyze the climate impact from burning the natural gas that the project would deliver to power plants.
    The ruling is significant because it adds to environmentalists’ arguments that analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act — the law governing all environmental reviews of federal decisions — must consider climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.”

  2. “On August 30, regulators in New York rejected key permits for a natural gas pipeline, saying a previous federal approval had failed to consider the resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

    The pipeline in question, the 7.8 mile-long Valley Lateral Project, would supply a 680 megawatt power plant that’s currently under construction. The pipeline had already received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), but because it crosses several streams and wetlands, it needed state regulators to sign off, too.”

     

     

  3. On Monday, Sept 11, the Minnesota Department of Commerce released an analysis concluding that Enbridge’s proposed new crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota, Line 3, isn’t needed — and moreover the aging line it’s supposed to replace should be shut down.

    “The report represents a major and unexpected roadblock for Calgary-based Enbridge in its attempt to replace the 1960s-vintage Line 3, which shuttles oil from Alberta, Canada, to the company’s terminal in Superior, Wis.”

     

     


  4. “On September 10, West Virginia environmental regulators rescinded approval for building the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would carry natural gas down the center of West Virginia for 195 miles.In a letter Thursday, the Department of Environmental Protection said it’s vacating the water quality certification issued in March, which followed review of the projected impact on the state’s waters and public hearings.”

     

     


  5. On September 7, TransCanada announced it would suspend the application for its Energy East pipeline for 30 days and may abandon the project weeks after Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) announced a tougher review process that would consider the project’s indirect greenhouse gas contributions.

 

 

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