Contribution short abstract

New qualitative analysis of US energy regulatory archives finds that fossil fuel producers used greenwashing claims in construction filings for fossil infrastructure. Regulators accepted these claims, showing need for regulatory reform to advance US energy transition.

Contribution long abstract

Increasing fossil fuel use is incompatible with preventing catastrophic climate change above 1.5C. In the US, the federal energy regulatory commission (FERC) continues to approve new fossil fuel infrastructure despite known climate harms. To understand the regulatory dynamics underlying fossil energy buildout, this research analyzes filings from the US’s largest fracked gas producer (EQT) and FERC during the construction of a highly contested gas pipeline, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Qualitative analysis of digital archival data shows EQT's deployment of discourses of climate denial and delay to greenwash fracked gas and pipeline construction in regulatory proceedings. This analysis further finds that regulators accept these claims, showing vulnerability to climate obstruction narratives. Vulnerabilities to greenwashing narratives are exacerbated by current regulatory practices, including marginalization of community and environmental organization input, reliance on the regulated industry for technical expertise, and implicit assumptions of the inevitability and public benefit of fracked gas pipelines. These findings question energy regulators' ability to discern misleading and misinformative claims. To advance US energy transition, regulatory process reforms that mitigate the impact of greenwashing claims in filings are necessary.