Ninth Circuit Vacates FERC’s Authorization of Bradwood Landing LNG Project
In a decision released yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated FERC’s September 18, 2008, order approving the Bradwood Landing LNG import terminal and its associated natural gas pipeline infrastructure. Agreeing that the Bradwood Landing LNG terminal and its associated pipeline “essentially constitute a single project that will go forward together, or not at all,” the Ninth Circuit held that the petitioners’ challenge to FERC’s September 18 order was moot because the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by FERC for the project’s associated pipeline cannot be transferred following the project’s developer filing for bankruptcy. The Court concluded that when a petition for review of an agency order is rendered moot, “the proper course is to vacate the underlying order.” Find further details in the Chinook Observer.