FERC ignores statutory obligation to public, authorizes 500 miles of unnecessary pipelines
Company promises three years of future savings, but deepens Georgia’s reliance on methane gas for decades
WASHINGTON – In a blatant disregard of its statutory obligation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized two pipeline proposals that would bring more than 500 miles of unnecessary methane gas pipelines across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Because FERC ignored overwhelming evidence that the projects, South System Expansion 4 and Mississippi Crossing, are not in the public interest, the Southern Environmental Law Center plans to challenge the authorization before FERC on behalf of Alabama Rivers Alliance, Blackbelt Women Rising, Energy Alabama, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, Mississippi Rising Coalition, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Click here for Climate Center for Energy and Environmental Justice’s interactive map of the proposed pipelines.
At a breathtaking $5.2 billion estimated cost — which does not even include the substantial fuel costs to be put on Southern ratepayers — these pipelines would needlessly impact 18 river watersheds, places where people fish, swim, farm, and rely on for drinking water. In some communities, the pipelines will increase air pollution and expose communities to a greater risk of asthma, cancer, and heart attacks. Communities would also be exposed to possible gas leaks, and even potential explosions of combustible gas (which has already happened along one of the existing lines through Alabama). The pipelines also threaten habitat for rare and beloved wildlife.
“FERC is choosing to ignore its statutory obligation to protect the public interest by rubber stamping a reckless plan that will pollute Southern communities and risk raising families’ power bills,” said Megan Gibson, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “The only true beneficiaries of these pipelines are the pipeline companies and their monopoly utility affiliates—not the public.”
A report by London Economic International found that publicly available records do not support demand for this $5.2 billion methane gas expansion. The report, which was submitted to FERC, found that the majority of the gas capacity that these projects would bring to the South is unnecessary. Major utilities, including Southern Company affiliates Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Mississippi Power, Southern Power, and Atlanta Gas Light, do not need any of the gas they’ve contracted to use from the pipelines.
Another report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis that was submitted to FERC found that excessive forecasts of data center growth and behind the push to build these pipelines and that these proposals, “exemplify an attempt by utilities to force their customers into subsidizing data centers” and “Electricity and natural gas ratepayers may be left paying for the costs of unused or underused infrastructure capacity—potentially including the MSX and SSE4 pipelines.”
“The approval of this unjustified expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure is a threat to dozens of waterways across Alabama, fragile aquatic species and dozens of communities throughout our state and neighboring states,” said Cindy Lowry, executive director of Alabama Rivers Alliance. “FERC is putting the interest of large corporations over the health of our people and the environment.”
This is part of a much larger expansion of methane gas across the South at a time when cleaner options are increasingly available and often cheaper. Methane gas (called “natural” gas by the fossil fuel industry) is expensive and volatile, worsens our climate, and harms human health—especially in communities already overburdened by pollution. Utilities are proposing dozens of new gas-burning power plants in an attempt to attract energy-hungry data centers and the profits utilities can earn by building big, expensive projects on the backs of billpayers. Across six southern states, utilities have proposed adding 44,000 megawatts of new gas generation, dozens of new gas plants, by 2039. That’s roughly the amount of electricity that would be needed if the number of households nearly doubled (from 16 million to around 30 million). Much of these utilities’ projected data center demand is speculative — if not outright implausible.
Quotes from local and regional groups opposing FERC’s authorization of the Mississippi Crossing and South System Expansion 4 pipeline projects:
“We’re not against economic growth, but we’re against Alabama’s Blackbelt being asked to carry the burden of extractive industries while everyone else cashes a check,” said Portia Shepherd, executive director of Blackbelt Women Rising. “Places like Perry and Sumter counties need real investments for good-paying jobs and adequate healthcare, not more dirty pollution. We’re not asking for favors, we’re demanding fairness.”
“FERC’s approval of the SSE4 Expansion and MSX pipeline projects do not serve the public interest and will raise electric bills for Alabamians,” said Sheree Martin, deputy director & general counsel for Energy Alabama. “Independent economic analysis demonstrated that additional pipeline capacity is not justified and that numerous opportunities for self-dealing between Southern Company affiliates exist. These projects are a perfect example of crony capitalism harming Alabamians for the benefit of Wall Street.”
“A regulatory system that allows a utility to negotiate a confidential price for pipeline capacity and then completely pass that confidential cost through to the ratepayers does not constitute a market or a reliable demonstration of market need. Further, these pipelines are fraught with opportunity for self-dealing, and we encourage FERC to recognize this,” said Shelley Robbins, Senior Decarbonization Manager, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
“FERC is tasked with ensuring that consumers obtain safe, secure, and economically efficient energy services. With the issuance of this certificate for this expensive, dangerous gas pipeline project by a company with a documented history of safety, environmental and labor standards violations and allowing the cost to be passed through to consumers, FERC has failed in its mission and failed Mississippians,” said Lea Campbell, founding organizer and board member of Mississippi Rising Coalition.
“The true cost of this massive, misguided methane expansion won’t just show up on Georgians’ utility bills,” said Marqus Cole, organizing director for Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. “It will be paid by the rivers and streams that supply our drinking water as this pipeline cuts across six major watersheds. It will be paid by nearby communities forced to breathe pollution from compressor stations. And it will be paid for decades to come as we lock ourselves into fossil fuel infrastructure that drives climate change long after cleaner, more affordable alternatives are available.”
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Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that inspires and equips communities of faith to organize, implement practical climate solutions, and advocate across Georgia on issues of climate change, environmental justice, and community resilience. Born out of the national Interfaith Power and Light movement, GIPL envisions a Georgia where all people can flourish in a healthy environment, a stable climate, and resilient communities.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 130 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. Learn more at selc.org.
REV. JAY HORTON
Communications Manager
Georgia Interfaith Power & Light
Phone: 404.377.5552
Email: jay@gipl.org
TERAH BOYD
Senior Communications Manager
Southern Environmental Law Center
Phone: 404.521.9900
Email: tboyd@selcga.org
