FERC Asks: What Endangered Species?

About three weeks ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told FERC that its Broadwater environmental impact statement didn't do a good enough job studying the potential affect of the huge LNG terminal on endangered and threatened birds, particularly roseate terns and piping plovers, both of which nest on Long Island Sound's beaches.

FERC just wrote back, asking essentially, "What are you talking about? Twice in the past two years you told us in letters that no federally-listed or proposed threatened or endangered species under FWS protection were known to exist within the project impact area, there was no critical habitat in the project impact area; and therefore no further coordination or consultation with FWS was required."

So, FERC wonder what gives? It's not an unreasonable question. A perfectly reasonable answer though would be, "Sorry, we made a mistake in our earlier letters and we appreciate the opportunity to correct the mistake. Just like you made a mistake in releasing such a poorly-done environmental impact statement and should now take the opportunity to correct that mistake." The letter is here.