Biden Admin Stalls Natural Gas Pipeline At The Behest Of Environmental Activists

The Biden administration quietly reversed a decision granting an energy utility company in Kentucky a federal permit to begin constructing a natural gas pipeline.

The pipeline — which would transport natural gas to an under-serviced area south of Louisville, Kentucky — cannot be constructed pending further environmental review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday. The USACE finalized the reversal on April 20, but the administration appears to have not issued any public announcement or press release about the action.

“The Corps has suspended the Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP) verification previously issued for this project,” USACE spokesperson Katie Newton told the DCNF in an email. “A decision will be made either to reinstate, modify, or revoke the authorization under the NWP pending completion of formal [Endangered Species Act (ESA)] consultation.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recommended that the USACE rescind the permit after two environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and Kentucky Resources Council, threatened to file a lawsuit over the project. The groups sent a 60-day notice of intent (NOI) to sue for alleged violations of the ESA to the Department of the Interior, FWS and USACE on Feb. 28.

The two environmental groups argued that pipeline construction would disturb Indiana bats, gray bats and northern long-eared bats which they said live in underground caves along the proposed route. The FWS has classified Indiana and gray bats as endangered for decades and recently proposed to also list the northern long-eared bat as endangered.

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