Emily Pitlick Mallen, a partner in the firm's Pipeline & LNG practice, will be a featured speaker at the ABA's Section of Environment, Energy and Resources 46th Spring Conference.   Emily's presentation, entitled, "An Evolving Environmental Battleground: FERC Pipeline Certificate Proceedings and New Disputes over 'Public Convenience and Necessity'” will focus on the changing regulatory landscape affecting pipeline certificate proceedings and the role that FERC plays.    

From the ABA website: 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) plays a significant, but previously little publicized, role in the environmental review and permitting of energy projects.  With the rapid expansion of natural gas development in the U.S., FERC’s role in siting interstate natural gas pipelines under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act has become a focal point in legal debates over “fracking” and climate change.  FERC’s legal responsibilities include determining whether a new pipeline serves the “public convenience and necessity,” ensuring that pipeline developers provide non-discriminatory access to capacity, conducting its own environmental reviews, and coordinating the environmental reviews of other state and federal agencies.  This panel will explain how FERC implements these responsibilities, recent D.C. Circuit decisions addressing the scope of FERC’s environmental reviews, the role of the revised Council of Environmental Quality guidance on how to address greenhouse gas emissions in such reviews, and the legal tools available to both pipeline proponents and opponents.