Tag Archives: Congress

Ask GAO to investigate why FERC Doesn’t Work

You can support hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals who have already asked Congress to:

Help secure an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office into the abuses of power, process and law by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when it comes to interstate natural gas pipelines and LNG export facilities. Write your congressional representative now to urge their help in securing this necessary independent review.

Here’s a handy web form by Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

If you want something local to say, try reading Continue reading Ask GAO to investigate why FERC Doesn’t Work

TPP fast track loses Senate vote

Pipeline-pushing members of Congress explicitly promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as a way to authorize more fracked methane export, which would promote more pipelines. Sabal Trail may say its gas isn’t for export, but those three already-authorized LNG export operations right where it goes in Florida suggest otherwise. Fortunately, TPP just lost a U.S. Senate vote for fast track, so now at least it can’t be pushed through without proper debate. If it’s so good for us, let’s see TPP declassified and the full text released to the public now.

Carter Dougherty and Heidi Przybyla, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 2013, Trans-Pacific Partnership: Senate Democrats revolt against Obama trade bill, Continue reading TPP fast track loses Senate vote

FERC running scared of protesters moves meeting date up to 14 May 2015

FERC can’t face the heat! But the rubberstamp machine can’t hide, either. It’s a safe bet protesters will be there at the new date.

Alex Guillén, Politico, 8 May 2015, FERC moves May meeting to avoid protestors,

ATTENTION FERC WORLD — MAY MEETING MOVED UP TO AVOID PROTESTS: FERC has moved up its monthly May meeting at the recommendation of federal law enforcement in order to avoid planned large-scale protests. The commissioner’s regularly scheduled monthly public meeting had been slated to take place on May 21, but because of plans for protest actions involving potentially hundreds of people, FERC has moved up the meeting to next Thursday, May 14. The decision was made after a recommendation from the Federal Protective Service “to better ensure the safety of its staff and the public during the protests planned for May 21 at FERC headquarters,” FERC spokesman Craig Cano wrote in an email.

About the protests: An umbrella group called Beyond Extreme Energy that charges FERC is Continue reading FERC running scared of protesters moves meeting date up to 14 May 2015

FERC recovers cost of operations through charges and fees from the industries it regulates –FERC FY14 Budget

Don’t believe FERC is funded by the industries it regulates? Well, let’s look beyond FERC’s own About web page to its actual funding request to Congress. Maybe that will motivate you to ecomment to FERC right now, and to contact your local, state, and national elected and appointed officials.

Acting Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur, FEDERAL  ENERGY  REGULATORY  COMMISSION, FY 2015 Congressional Performance Budget Request,

Full Cost Recovery

The Commission recovers the full cost of its operations through annual charges and filing fees assessed on the industries it regulates as authorized by the Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986. The Commission deposits this revenue into the Treasury as a direct offset to its appropriation, resulting in no net appropriation.

Clear enough that FERC is 100% funded by the industries it regulates?

That may seem like a win for the taxpayers. But is it a win for you the local landowners Continue reading FERC recovers cost of operations through charges and fees from the industries it regulates –FERC FY14 Budget

Say no to pipeline bait and switch –Marihelen Wheeler

This op-ed spells out actions by Sabal Trail and FERC, that it interprets as deception, and it concludes we can all say no to that unnecessary pipeline. I’ve added a few pictures and links.

Marihelen Wheeler wrote an op-ed in the Ocala StarBanner 1 June 2014, Floridians can and must say no to gas pipeline,

It should be called “psychological bait and switch.” This tactic is being used by corporations trying to engage and solicit residents’ support for controversial projects that will negatively impact those residents. Among the most recent projects is the proposed Sabal Trail gas pipeline that will disturb about 13,670 acres of Florida land.

A company’s first move is to propose an idea that is so distasteful that, Continue reading Say no to pipeline bait and switch –Marihelen Wheeler

Who funds FERC?

If you guessed the taxpayers, as I did, nope. On FERC’s own About FERC web page:

The Commission is funded through costs recovered by the fees and annual charges from the industries it regulates.

To make it even richer, the sentence before that reads:

There is no review of FERC decisions by the President or Congress, maintaining FERC’s independence as a regulatory agency, and providing for fair and unbiased decisions.

But FERC’s web page says nothing about FERC’s independence from the industries it regulates.

Here’s Investopedia’s definition of regulatory capture:

Regulatory capture happens when a regulatory agency, formed to act in the public’s interest, eventually acts in ways that benefit the industry it is supposed to be regulating, rather than the public.

Maybe that’s why Continue reading Who funds FERC?

Sanford Bishop would like to hear from you about the Sabal Trail pipeline

The proposed Sabal Trail methane pipeline is number 1 on the topic rotation on Rep. Sanford Bishop’s Congressional (GA-02) website:

Sabal Trail Pipeline

We would like to hear from you about the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission Gas Pipeline project.

The links lead to a page that says:

The proposed Sabal Trail Transmission Gas Pipeline project would transport up to a billion cubic feet of natural gas each day through about 24 miles of Dougherty County on its 465-mile route from central Alabama to central Florida. The natural gas carried by the pipeline is intended to provide electricity for a large portion of the state of Florida.

You can voice your opinion about the proposed pipeline by mail, telephone or electronically:

MAIL:
Kimberly D. Bose
Secretary of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street N.E., Room 1A
Washington, DC, 20414

EMAIL:
e-filing@ferc.gov

WEBSITE:
www.ferc.gov

PHONE:
(202) 502-8258

That contact information is all for contacting FERC. While no doubt Rep. Bishop himself is most interested in hearing from constituents, it doesn’t say just constituents, nor was his listening session in Albany limited to just constituents.

Congressman Bishop’s own own contact page does say he is only able to reply to e-mails from constituents.

Here’s how to find your own representative. And here are links to contact information for every Congress and statehouse member and county commission and city council of county seats of counties in all three states (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) along the proposed pipeline path.

-jsq

Extend the comment period –Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (GA-02)

Filed with FERC 16 April 2014 with special subject “Congressional Submittal submitted in FERC PF14-1-000 by US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES”. Rep. Bishop is listening to citizens about the pipeline 10AM Thursday 17 April 2014 in Albany, GA.

SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.
SECOND District, Georgia
COMMITTEE on Appropriations….

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
April 14, 2014

Ms. Cheryl A. LaFleur
Acting Chairman
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20426

Dear Acting Chairman LaFleur: Continue reading Extend the comment period –Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (GA-02)

A Listening Session with Congressman Sanford Bishop

Received yesterday from one of the organizers. -jsq

A Listening Session
with Congressman Sanford Bishop

Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 10:00 AM
Room 100 of the Dougherty County Government Center
222 Pine Avenue
Albany, Georgia

Subject: Sabal Trail Transmission
Gas Pipeline Proposed Project

The session is being held to allow citizens to provide feedback and share concerns with the Congressman on the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission Gas Pipeline Project. This is a very significant concern for a variety of reasons, among them public safety, environmental and economic impact.

Congressman Bishop’s district covers most of the path of the proposed pipeline, making him a key ally in Congress to oppose the pipeline, if he can be convinced to do so. Continue reading A Listening Session with Congressman Sanford Bishop