A community group and environmentalists sued National Grid USA's downstate gas utility and New York's environmental regulator over an agency finding in the permitting process for new facilities at the company's LNG terminal in Brooklyn, N.Y.

In a lawsuit filed March 18, the Cooper Park Resident Council Inc. and Sane Energy Project alleged that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC, failed to take into account environmental justice protections and state climate law in considering the Brooklyn Union Gas Co.'s application to build two new LNG vaporizers at its existing Greenpoint facility in Brooklyn. The petitioners filed the lawsuit with the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Queens County.

Adding two new vaporizers and replacing a pair of aging vaporizers, one of which is inoperable, is part of National Grid's plan to close an anticipated supply gap in its New York City service territory in the coming years. According to the petition, DEC issued a so-called negative declaration Nov. 2, 2020, and again March 3, finding that the project would have no significant environmental impact.

However, the petitioners, which have long opposed any effort to site new fossil fuel infrastructure in New York City, disputed the DEC finding.

"DEC issued a negative declaration despite the fact that the project, which sits in a potential environmental justice area, would involve significant increases in potential air emissions from the Greenpoint facility and create or exacerbate multiple risks to public health," wrote the attorneys for the petitioners, the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic Inc. and University Network for Human Rights. "On its face, the application significantly increases the gas vaporization and send-out capacity of the facility and is likely to adversely impact local air quality, which is already poor."

The DEC has not yet issued a final permit for the LNG vaporizer project, which also requires approval from the city. In February 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order to block infrastructure that would increase fossil fuel supply into New York City.

Anticipating that the court may find that their challenge is not ripe because the permit has not yet been issued, lawyers for the petitioners said they were filing "in the interest of placing this matter before the court prior to the start of major construction," noting that National Grid has classified the project as "in progress" and has invested $8.5 million.

The petitioners claimed the data on the project's potential for emissions are larger than the application indicates and the DEC's negative declaration "flatly ignores" actual and potential environmental harms. They called the declaration "arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law," saying the DEC is refusing to examine potential impacts of increased emissions on an overburdened population.

Additionally, the petitioners said the DEC arrived at the determination without considering its connection to a North Brooklyn gas transmission pipeline and new LNG trucking station. They alleged that no state agency has considered the aggregate impacts of the projects as required by state environmental law. The determination was also contrary to the DEC's policy for incorporating environmental justice concerns into permit reviews and New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the petitioners said.

The petitioners asked the court to enjoin National Grid from proceeding with the project until the DEC complies with relevant policies, laws and regulations; order the DEC to conduct a fuller review of the application; and order "agencies to revoke all outstanding permits and deny all pending and future permit applications for the Greenpoint LNG trucking station, LNG trucking operations and Phase 5 of the North Brooklyn pipeline until DEC reviews the 'whole action' as required by" the State Environmental Quality Review Act.

National Grid did not immediately return a request for response. The DEC said in an email that it does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit marked the latest flashpoint in an ongoing battle over natural gas infrastructure in the state. The DEC decision to deny a permit to Williams Cos. Inc.'s Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project prompted National Grid to place a moratorium on new downstate gas hookups, precipitating a standoff with Gov. Andrew Cuomo that resulted in a $36 million settlement.

As part of that settlement, National Grid has put forward options for keeping New York City and Long Island adequately supplied, and it submitted to oversight by an independent monitor. The monitor has raised concerns about project delays, including the plan to replace the two LNG vaporizers, noting that National Grid has struggled to secure permits.