The NEPA mandate and federal regulation of the natural gas industry. [NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)]

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Energy Law Journal; (United States)

OSTI ID:6683909

Hoecker, J J

Utility regulators increasingly take responsibility for the [open quotes]extemalities[close quotes] associated with their decisions, meaning the economic and social costs related to rate decisions or other kinds of authorizations. Yet, when Congress adopted the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), it intervened to ensure protection of the natural environment, not from abuses by the citizenry but from the activities of the federal government itself. Comprised of action forcing procedures, NEPA was designed to infuse the decisional processes of federal agencies with a broad awareness of the environmental consequences of their actions. NEPA encourages decisionmakers to counterbalance the organic statutory and political missions of their departments or agencies with a sensitivity to the ecological consequences of their directives and authorizations. This paper examines how the requirements of NEPA have fared in the environment of classical public utility regulation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Commission proceedings did not evidence any widely held opinion that economic regulation of the gas industry is hostile to the NEPA process.

• OSTI ID: 6683909
• Journal Information: Energy Law Journal; (United States), Journal Name: Energy Law Journal; (United States) Vol. 13:2; ISSN 0270-9163; ISSN ELJOEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
293000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
294003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Natural Gas
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INDUSTRY
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LAWS
LEGAL ASPECTS
LEGISLATION
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
US DOE
US FERC
US NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT
US ORGANIZATIONS