Agroup of petitioners asked for a review of FERC's approval of 's AlgonquinIncremental Market project, as opposition groups continue to march intofederal court toprotest the commission's infrastructure decisions.

Morethan 20 petitioners — environmental and citizen groups, plus individuals —notified FERC that they are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Districtof Columbia Circuit to review the commission's decision to the 342,000-Dth/d pipelineexpansion project in March 2015 and the commission's refusal to grant rehearingof that decision in January. (CP14-96)

An attorneyfor the Law Offices of CarolynElefant PLLC, which is representing the petitioners, notified FERCof the action in a filing posted at FERC on March 30. The petitioners pursuedvarious interests in the federal court filing, including protection for theHudson River and its tributaries, protection of wetlands and other habitat,protection of food production, health and safety, and a shift from fossil fuelsto protect the climate.

Theparties asking for review of the FERC decision were involved in the commissionproceeding. They are Riverkeeper Inc., Reynolds Hill Inc., the Lower HudsonChapter of the Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Stop the Algonquin PipelineExpansion, Better Future Project, Charles River Spring Valley NeighborhoodAssociation, West Roxbury Saves Energy, Capitalism vs. the Climate, Fossil FreeRhode Island, Paul Dunn, Jan White, Mary McMahon, Audrey Brait, William andRobin Cullinane, Linder Sweeney, Rickie Harvey, Jessica Porter, Pramilla Malick,Alexandra Shumway, and Virginia Hickey.

NewYork Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state agencies acting under his direction recentlytried to get FERC to halt construction on the Algonquin Incremental Marketexpansion project due to safety concerns related to the route traversing nearthe Indian Point nuclear plant. FERC denied the request.

Theapproximately $972 million project is well along in the construction phase. Itis due in service in November.