ShaleDirectories, LLC.: Fourth Circuit Goes Full Childish on Atlantic Coast, “Speaks for the Trees”

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Fourth Circuit Goes Full Childish on Atlantic Coast, “Speaks for the Trees”

Jim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

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The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals goes full childish, full infantile, with a ridiculous “speak for the trees” decision against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit (i.e. Circus) Court of Appeals has bungled another decision regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The court has vacated a permit issued by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) that allows ACP to cross beneath the Appalachian Trail and 21 miles of national forest land in Virginia and West Virginia.

The Fourth Circuit is apparently a bunch of clowns. How else do you explain the judge quoting from The Lorax, a fictional children’s book written by Dr. Seuss, as part of the decision issued yesterday. The so-called decision is straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Bizarre.

What’s next? Will we be treated to Youtube clips from the Captain Planet cartoon in future decisions? This faulty decision is already being appealed by Dominion Energy. It’s pretty easy to predict the decision will get overturned on appeal–by adult, non-clown judges in the next court up.

All work is already stopped for ACP due to the same clown judges overturning a different permit last week issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that allows the pipeline to get built through areas with so-called endangered and threatened species (see 4th Circus Blocks Permit, Stops All Work on Atlantic Coast Pipe).

A “judge” quoting from The Lorax. Ya think maybe there’s a tad bit of judicial bias going on here? Perhaps even judicial incompetence? We call for an immediate investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the judge, to see whether or not the judge donates or belongs to the Sierra Club or any of the other radical Big Green groups that brought the lawsuit in the first place.

Something is really off here. Really smelly. Check out these excerpts from this story in the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

In an opinion made public Thursday, a panel of judges vacated the Forest Service’s Special Use Permit and Record of Decision, both required to construct the pipeline through the George Washington and Monongahela national forests. The panel also said the Forest Service didn’t have the authority to allow construction across the Appalachian Trail.

The 60-page opinion includes a reference to Dr. Seuss’s “The Lorax,” a cautionary tale about the perils of corporate greed and environmental harm, told in a children’s book.

“We trust the United States Forest Service to ‘speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,’” the opinion, written by Judge Stephanie Thacker, said. Chief Judge Rogery Gregory and Judge James Wynn joined…

Fourth Circuit goes full childish?

Atlantic Coast Pipeline voluntarily halted construction along the project’s path last week, when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement. It’s one of many permits that have been battled over in federal court.

But Atlantic Coast Pipeline plans to appeal Thursday’s decision, Aaron Ruby, a spokesman for the project, said in a statement. The decision “severely” harms consumers and energy security, he said.

“With this decision, the Fourth Circuit has now undermined the judgment of the dedicated, career professionals at nearly every federal agency that has reviewed this project,” he said.

A spokesman for the Forest Service said the agency was reviewing the decision, but didn’t comment further.