"A federal court yesterday rejected an ambitious lawsuit from environmentalists who say federal regulators are biased toward approving natural gas pipelines.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network that accused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of violating stakeholders' due process rights by rubber-stamping gas pipelines.

The group's lawsuit involved a particular proposal, the PennEast pipeline in Pennsylvania, but raised broader claims that FERC's funding structure creates a "structural bias" because the agency's budget is offset by fees and annual charges from natural gas companies."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for EnergyWire March 23, 2017. [2]