Banners for the event hanging in Buckingham County Middle School gym by Friends of Buckingham, a community group that fought the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, leading to this victory. Katja Timm / VCU Capital News Service / CC BY-NC 2.0
A historic African American community in Virginia has dealt another blow to the embattled Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
<p>A federal court threw out a permit Tuesday that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a>'s owners needed to build a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">natural gas</a> compressor station in Union Hill, a community founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. In doing so, the judges sided with the community and their lawyers, who argued that the compressor would disproportionately harm the health of the mostly African American residents who would live near the station, <a href="https://apnews.com/0bf7f96d018ae292f53ad3618bcbc786" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p>"Five years ago, Dominion told us that there was going to be a compressor station in Union Hill and there was nothing we could do about it. That's not fair, and it's not American. This is a win for a group of citizens who were committed to protecting their community and never ever gave up," Chad Oba, a Union Hill resident and president of <a href="https://t.co/nX23VoXeL0?amp=1" target="_blank">Friends of Buckingham</a>, a community group that fought the pipeline, told <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477199-atlantic-coast-pipeline-loses-permit-battle-with-historically-black" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. "Today we showed that our community, our community's history, and our community's future matters more than a pipeline."</p>
<div id="b475a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="VUHLF21578495851"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1214606423168110592" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We Won! You Won! The Fourth is sooo with us 3-0. Today vacated the Atlantic Coast Pipeline's Buckingham compressor… https://t.co/dvHuNXLf0f</div> — Friends of Buckingham (@Friends of Buckingham)<a href="https://twitter.com/FriendsofBucki1/statuses/1214606423168110592">1578419712.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Dominion Energy, the pipeline's lead developer, argued that the compressor station would have fewer emissions and more air quality monitoring than any other station in the U.S., according to The Associated Press. The State Air Pollution Control Board accepted that argument when it granted the permit.</p><p>The board's Deputy Solicitor General Martine Cicconi said during a hearing in October that the board "absolutely grappled" with environmental justice issues when making the decision, but granted the permit because the station's emissions would be much lower than other compressor stations in Virginia and would meet national air quality standards.</p><p>However, the three judges from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments, ruling that the state did not consider the "unequal treatment" of people living near the compressor site. They also ruled that the state failed to consider zero-emission alternatives such as electric turbines.</p><p>"The Board rejected the idea of disproportionate impact on the basis that air quality standards were met. But environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked, and the Board's failure to consider the disproportionate impact on those closest to the Compressor Station resulted in a flawed analysis," Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote, according to The Associated Press.</p>
<div id="85df9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6SYGV61578495851"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1214687218272493570" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">“Environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked” said the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in its ruling ag… https://t.co/JKt7SUvynQ</div> — SELC (Environmental Law) (@SELC (Environmental Law))<a href="https://twitter.com/selc_org/statuses/1214687218272493570">1578438975.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p><p>The judges' decision marks the eighth time since May 2018 that a permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline has been tossed or suspended, <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/news-and-press/news-feed/court-delivers-win-for-union-hill-citizens-over-atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_blank">according to the Southern Environmental Law Center</a> (SELC), which represented Friends of Buckingham in the case.</p><p>The pipeline is intended to carry fracked natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina, according to The Hill. But it has been beset by legal troubles, and less than 6 percent of it is in the ground, SELC said. Construction has been paused for more than a year. </p><p>In a statement <a href="https://www.nbc29.com/2020/01/08/court-throws-out-permit-needed-atlantic-coast-pipeline/" target="_blank">reported by NBC29</a>, Dominion insisted it could resolve the disagreement with Union Hill and complete the pipeline. </p><p>"In its opinion today, the Court recognized the stringency of the permit, while requiring more explanation and analysis from the state to support its approval. We will immediately begin working with the state to resolve the procedural issues identified by the Court and are confident this can be completed in a timely manner. We expect the project will still deliver significant volumes to customers under our existing timeline, even as we work to resolve this permit," Dominion said. </p><p>However, the pipeline faces other challenges. In December 2018, a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-permits-trees-2623387334.html" target="_self">Virginia appeals court tossed a permit</a> allowing the pipeline to cross national forest in the state, including part of the Appalachian Trail. Dominion and Duke Energy, another pipeline developer, have appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in February, SELC said.</p><p>"For the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, it's the same story again and again," SELC Senior Attorney Greg Buppert said in a press release. "Dominion tried to force a pipeline compressor station into a community where it didn't belong, just like it has tried to force the pipeline through a national park, national forests, and steep mountains. But the people of Union Hill never backed down. Today they've won an important victory, not just for themselves, but for every community in Virginia facing the unjust burden of industry and pollution."</p>From Your Site Articles
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YinYang / E+ / Getty Images
The fight over the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline may be headed to the Supreme Court.
<p>Dominion Energy, the lead developer of the project that would carry fracked <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">natural gas</a> for 605 miles through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, said Tuesday it would appeal to the nation's highest court after an appeals court refused to reconsider its decision to throw out a crucial permit for the project on Monday, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/dominion-to-ask-supreme-court-to-hear-pipeline-appeal/" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p>Dominion and the U.S. Forest Service had asked the fourth U.S. Court of Appeals for a re-hearing of the court's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-permits-trees-2623387334.html" target="_self">December 2018</a> decision to toss the U.S. Forest Service permit allowing the pipeline to cross the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests as well as part of the Appalachian Trail. The court refused.</p><p>The court had ruled in December that the U.S. Forest Service did not have the authority to grant the pipeline company permission to cross the Appalachian Trail.<br></p><p>"The Fourth Circuit's decision, now final, confirmed that this pipeline has to play by the same rules as everybody else," <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a> (SELC) Senior Attorney D.J. Gerken <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/news-and-press/news-feed/court-rejects-pipeline-developers-request-to-overturn-at-decision" target="_blank">said in a press release</a>. "The Forest Service has never approved a new pipeline across the Appalachian Trail — but, under intense political pressure, it did for Atlantic, while ignoring routes that would avoid the forest. Atlantic could reroute, but instead it should scrap this boondoggle and stop running up a bill it wants to stick to customers."</p><p>The SELC brought the lawsuit that resulted in December's decision on behalf of the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>, the <a href="http://www.vawilderness.org/" target="_blank">Virginia Wilderness Committee</a> and other environmental groups. </p><p>Dominion said it would file an appeal with the Supreme Court within 90 days, The Associated Press reported. It is also seeking "legislative and administrative options" in case the Supreme Court refuses to hear its case, thought it did not specify what those might be. </p><p>Gerken speculated to The Associated Press that Dominion might ask Congress to grant the U.S. Forest Service or another body the authority to allow it to cross the trail. </p><p>Construction is now stopped along the entire route of the pipeline, and the cost of the project has gone from an estimated $4.5 to 5 billion when first announced to $7 to $7.5 billion, <a href="http://www.wvpublic.org/post/federal-court-denies-atlantic-coast-pipelines-request-new-hearing#stream/0" target="_blank">West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported</a>. Despite this, the company said it would complete the project and that "at least partial construction will recommence in the third quarter of 2019." </p><p>However, pipeline opponents are hoping the company will admit defeat.</p><p>"The Fourth Circuit has once again made it clear what everyone but the corporate polluters behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline already know: it is impossible to construct this fracked gas project without causing massive landslides and threatening the Appalachian Trail and our clean water. Any proposal to threaten our communities, our clean water, and our national parks and public lands simply cannot ever be permitted. It's past time that the companies behind the disastrous Atlantic Coast Pipeline abandon this dirty and dangerous project once and for all," Sierra Club Senior Attorney Nathan Matthews said in the SELC release.</p>
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Court Tosses Controversial Pipeline Permits, Rules Forest Service Failed to ‘Speak for the Trees’
14 December 2018
Energy
McAfee Knob along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. Appalachian Trail Conservancy / NPS
The Lorax would not approve of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline—the controversial pipeline intended to carry fracked natural gas through 600 miles in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. That's the sentiment behind a ruling by a Virginia appeals court Thursday tossing out a U.S. Forest Service permit for the pipeline to cross 21 miles of national forest in Virginia, including a part of the Appalachian Trail, The News & Observer reported.
<p>"We trust the United States Forest Service to 'speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,'" the Richmond, Virginia U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit wrote in its ruling, quoting the Dr. Seuss classic. "A thorough review of the record leads to the necessary conclusion that the Forest Service abdicated its responsibility to preserve national forest resources. This conclusion is particularly informed by the Forest Service's serious environmental concerns that were suddenly, and mysteriously, assuaged in time to meet a private pipeline company's deadlines."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="c7405" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="L4J53E1576662505"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1073302531101655041" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Federal court on Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit: "The Forest Service abdicated its responsibility to preserve natio… https://t.co/5Gru1LfyIS</div> — The Virginia Mercury (@The Virginia Mercury)<a href="https://twitter.com/MercuryVirginia/statuses/1073302531101655041">1544730239.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and the Southern Company, the companies behind the pipeline, had sought permission to cross the George Washington National Forest and the Monongahela National Forest. Work would have required clearing a 125-foot path for construction through the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" target="_blank">forests</a> and leaving a 50 foot path around the pipeline for maintenance. <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> lawyer Nathan Matthews told The News & Observer that the companies would have to build 50 to 100 more miles to navigate around the forests.<br></p><p>"This is a really consequential decision for this project," Greg Buppert, an attorney with the <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>, which brought the lawsuit against the permit on behalf of several environmental groups including the Sierra Club, told <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2018/12/13/if-were-dominion-id-be-panicked-federal-court-vacates-another-atlantic-coast-pipeline-permit/" target="_blank">The Virginia Mercury</a>. "If I were Dominion I would be panicked."</p><p>The court's decision comes <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-endangered-species-2623037745.html" target="_self">nearly a week</a> after the same court halted construction on the pipeline until it can rule on permits granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowing the pipeline to build in the habitat of four <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>. Thursday's decision introduces yet another setback to the project.</p><p>"This decision reinforces that the tide has turned against fracked gas pipelines," Matthews said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/12/federal-court-throws-out-approval-acp-through-national-forests" target="_blank">Sierra Club statement</a>. These dirty and destructive projects are no longer a done deal. It's simple, there is no right way to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline—or any fracked gas pipeline. For the sake of our health, climate, communities, and its own ratepayers, Dominion should abandon this dirty, dangerous project once and for all."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="16e0c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="OHFXGE1576662505"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1073300919712997377" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"There is no right way to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline -- or any fracked gas pipeline. For the sake of our hea… https://t.co/62THRGu3aq</div> — Sierra Club (@Sierra Club)<a href="https://twitter.com/SierraClub/statuses/1073300919712997377">1544729854.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>Dominion Energy is reportedly planning to ask Congress for a workaround to the decision, according to The Virginia Mercury.<br></p><p>"If allowed to stand, this decision will severely harm consumers and do great damage to our economy and energy security," pipeline spokesman Aaron Ruby wrote in an email to The News & Observer. "Public utilities are depending on this infrastructure to meet the basic energy needs of millions of people and businesses in our region."</p><p>The court, on the other hand, suggested that the pipeline could severely harm the forests. It found that the Forest Service had raised concerns about the impact construction would have on erosion, sedimentation, increased landslide risk and the habitat of the little brown bat, which <a href="https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/virginia-threatened-endangered-species.pdf" target="_blank">is endangered in Virginia</a>. But it then dismissed those concerns when it approved permits in November 2017 and January 2018. </p><p>The court also ruled that the Forest Service could not authorize the pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail, which is under the management of the National Park System, The Virginia Mercury reported.</p><p>"At the very least this sends Dominion back to the drawing board," Buppert told The Virginia Mercury. "And at some point, the costs of this project get too outrageous."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="a29ed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="X3TJ5V1576662505"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="988534265657876480" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">With Treetop Protest, 61-Year-Old Red Terry Leads Fight Against Mountain Valley Pipeline https://t.co/kvIkoZQL7k… https://t.co/BVNFojO1fv</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/988534265657876480">1524519909.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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Court Orders Atlantic Coast Pipeline Work Stoppage Over Impact on Endangered Species
11 December 2018
Energy
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would cross the Greenbrier River in West Virginia. West Virginia Rivers Coalition / YouTube screenshot
Work on the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would carry fracked natural gas along a 600 mile route through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, has been halted by court order and may not resume for several months, The News & Observer reported Monday.
A federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia ruled on Friday that work must stop on the pipeline until March, when courts are set to review federal permits that allow the pipeline to operate in the habitat of four endangered species, which wildlife advocates say were rushed.
<p>"When we said we won't stop fighting this dirty, dangerous, unnecessary pipeline, we meant it. Every day that this pipeline isn't operating is a day that it's not hurting our health, water, climate and communities," <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/12/atlantic-coast-pipeline-halts-all-construction" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="4b7e3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="W6OD301576662506"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1071175719533862912" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: Fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline Halts All Construction.
“This latest setback casts serious doubts on… https://t.co/LUuM75AGJB</div> — Sierra Club (@Sierra Club)<a href="https://twitter.com/SierraClub/statuses/1071175719533862912">1544223167.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>The Sierra Club has joined with other environmental groups including the <a href="http://www.vawilderness.org/" target="_blank">Virginia Wilderness Committee</a> to sue to stop the pipeline through the <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a> (SELC). A case brought by these groups led the courts to vacate <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/second-controversial-fracked-gas-pipeline-runs-into-legal-trouble-2593893066.html" target="_self">two key permits for the project in August</a>. But work resumed when federal agencies issued <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-construction-2606259760.html" target="_self">revised permits in September</a>. It is the revised permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond has once again put on hold until a full legal challenge can be considered.</p><p>"The Fish and Wildlife Service scrambled to reissue this permit and its haste is evident in its analysis," SELC attorney Patrick Hunter told <a href="http://www.wfae.org/post/atlantic-coast-pipeline-work-halted-after-court-stays-key-permit#stream/0" target="_blank">WFAE</a>. "This is yet another instance of government agencies rushing out ill-considered permits for this project."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="16991" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7IP6GB1576662506"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1071163315039162370" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Breaking news: Atlantic Coast Pipeline construction halted after court determines U.S. Fish and Wildlife permit is… https://t.co/sG2tBVe99w</div> — SELC (Environmental Law) (@SELC (Environmental Law))<a href="https://twitter.com/selc_org/statuses/1071163315039162370">1544220210.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>Dominion Energy, which is building the pipeline with Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and the Southern Company, announced Friday it was stopping construction.<br></p><p>"Dominion Energy, on behalf of Atlantic and itself, has stopped construction on the entire project, except for stand-down activities needed for safety and that are necessary to prevent detriment to the environment," it wrote in a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reported by WFAE.</p><p>However, the pipeline's builders are also challenging the work stoppage, arguing that the habitat of the species in question only covers 100 miles of the route in Virginia and West Virginia, and that they should be able to continue construction in other areas. </p><p>Here are the species at the heart of the dispute, and how pipeline construction could impact them, according to The News & Observer.</p><p><strong>1. Indiana Bat</strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk5MzA0MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTkzODU0Mn0.qUa2Ymb1hHYOzCjAAJ6eUiaEWAk_HUnh_rAtX0H2XKU/img.jpg?width=980" id="b39db" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="135b445031c0b7a97650f3d53870642a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">An Indiana bat</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Andrew King, USFWS</small></p><p>The Indiana bat lives along most of the pipeline's route in Virginia and West Virginia. The clearing of trees for the pipeline would compel pregnant female bats to change their flight patterns and make them more vulnerable to predators.<br></p><p><strong>2. Clubshell Mussel</strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk5MzA0My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTAzODQ5NH0.8r-83IvsteGTZWrMG1XsCKdqbfeuzkb-_DLVEDNX7c0/img.jpg?width=980" id="b7bdd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1163311879a3f3295f20ad7949ee8323" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Clubshell mussels </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">USFWS</small></p><p>This freshwater mussel could be buried alive by the dredging and grading required to build the pipeline.</p><p><strong>3. Madison Cave Isopod</strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk5MzA0NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjgwMjU3N30.o5aBXF7N7GV8PUG-TBRlQTluOtjH4pzRL_IwoN0YEVo/img.jpg?width=980" id="b1558" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3584ce72c270fab869594313b2778d74" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A Madison cave isopod </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">USFWS Northeast Region / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY 2.0</a></small></p><p>A type of freshwater crustacean, this tiny isopod could be crushed or trapped by digging or blasting by the pipeline builders.<br></p><p><strong>4. Rusty-Patched Bumblebee</strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk5MzA0NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyODQyMzQyMn0.1aPb2XKmNlEoi_MBJlpIhuHdEBAarb8L5wo542DH1cw/img.jpg?width=980" id="f5e6a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7a40c465a2c092dffe9f118723723280" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A rusty-patched bumblebee</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Kim Mitchell, USFWS</small></p><p>The rusty patched bumblebee could be hurt or killed by falling of trees cleared to make way for the pipeline.</p><p>.</p>
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Citizen scientists in Virginia test water quality so that they have a basis for comparison if the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is built. Norm Shafer / The Washington Post / Getty Images
The controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which will carry fracked natural gas along a 600 mile route through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, has been stalled yet again. This time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspended a permit allowing the pipeline to cross streams, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.
<p>
This particular suspension was actually requested by one of the companies behind the pipeline, Dominion Energy, while it awaits a court ruling involving water crossings in two West Virginia counties. But the environmental groups behind the lawsuit, represented by
<a href="http://www.appalmad.org/" target="_blank">Appalachian Mountain Advocates</a> (Appalmad), welcomed the news.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="47840" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="Y821LP1576662507"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1065006826096390145" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Great news for clean water advocates! ACP now lacks authorization to do any instream or wetland construction anywhe… https://t.co/IWBcikf0w0</div> — Appalmad (@Appalmad)<a href="https://twitter.com/AppalCenter/statuses/1065006826096390145">1542752388.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Appalmad represents the
<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>, <a href="http://wvrivers.org/" target="_blank">West Virginia Rivers Coalition</a>, <a href="https://wvhighlands.org/" target="_blank">West Virginia Highlands Conservancy</a>, <a href="http://appvoices.org/" target="_blank">Appalachian Voices</a> and <a href="http://chesapeakeclimate.org/" target="_blank">Chesapeake Climate Action Network</a> in the suit against the pipeline.<br>
</p><p>
"If the polluting corporations behind the ACP ever thought this would be easy, they know better now. There is no right way to build this dirty, dangerous pipeline and we won't stop fighting it until construction is permanently halted," Kelly Martin of the Sierra Club said in a statement reported by
<a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article222037145.html" target="_blank">The News & Observer</a>.
</p><p>
Appalmad had won a suspension of the West Virginia water crossing permits from the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 7, and Dominion Energy decided to ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to suspend all water crossing permits until the court makes its decision. It will hear arguments in January, The Associated Press reported.
</p><p>
"Because of that order, it is uncertain whether NWP (nationwide permit) 12 will ultimately be able to authorize work for ACP in North Carolina. Therefore as requested, the Wilmington district finds it appropriate to temporarily suspend your authorization and await clarity on this issue," Army Corps Wilmington, NC Division Chief Scott McLendon wrote in his decision, the News & Observer reported.
</p><p>
The pipeline has faced both legal and popular opposition since it was announced. Just last week, 15 people were arrested outside North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper's office <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article222037145.html" target="_blank">after a sit-in</a> protesting the pipeline.</p><p> "We are confident that this issue will be resolved in a timely manner and we do not expect the project schedule to be affected by this voluntary suspension," she said. "We successfully completed West Virginia summer construction with stay provisions in place and expect ACP's fall and winter construction will also proceed in a productive manner in compliance with the stay provisions."</p><p>
Dominion Energy is responsible for construction in Virginia and West Virginia, while Duke Energy will handle construction in North Carolina, The News & Observer reported.
</p>
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PG&E received a maximum sentence for the 2010 San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
A striking report has revealed that 90 percent of the 137 interstate pipeline fires or explosions since 2010 have drawn no financial penalties for the companies responsible.
The article from E&E News reporter Mike Soraghan underscores the federal Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) weak authority over the fossil fuel industry for these disasters.
<p>
The government levied a mere $5.4 million in fines for the 13 pipeline explosion and fire cases in the last eight years, the analysis found.
</p><p>
"That's less than one day of profits for one major pipeline company,
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/transcanada" target="_self">TransCanada</a>. It's $2 million less than what [TransCanada CEO Russ Girling] made last year," Soraghan explained in a <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSoraghan/status/1063401798176788480" target="_blank">tweet</a>.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="86d0b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="TNSC001576662637"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1063401798176788480" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">137 fires and explosions on interstate pipelines since start of 2010. $5.4 million in fines levied by feds at… https://t.co/o4zuqObVlV</div> — Mike Soraghan (@Mike Soraghan)<a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSoraghan/statuses/1063401798176788480">1542369720.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
One of the country's largest natural gas pipeline accidents—the 2010 San Bruno, California pipeline explosion that resulted in eight deaths—fell under state jurisdiction rather than PHMSA. California authorities imposed a record $1.6 billion fine against Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).
</p><p>
Although serious pipeline incidents are relatively rare—at least when you consider how much natural gas is transported every day by the country's
<a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=natural_gas_pipelines" target="_blank">3 million miles</a> of mainline and other pipelines—it's little solace to the people who have suffered from pipeline accidents.
</p><p>
Citing PHMSA data, the
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/an-old-problem-aging-pipelines-lead-to-deadly-explosions/2018/09/14/42c709b2-b865-11e8-ae4f-2c1439c96d79_story.html" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> reported that more than 300 people have died and 1,200 have been injured due to natural gas pipeline incidents in the last 20 years—and the nation's aging gas distribution network further increases these risks.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="23477" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5S59DN1576662637"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1025124144889966592" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">7 Hospitalized After #Pipeline Explosions in #Texas https://t.co/5sq000oE4N @PipelineandGas @keystonexI @PriceofOil</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/1025124144889966592">1533243616.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
But new gas pipelines explode, too. TransCanada's Leach XPress project, which was placed in-service on Jan. 1, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/transcanada-pipeline-explodes-west-virginia-2576042392.html">exploded in Marshall County, West Virginia</a> in June. A 24-inch natural gas line, owned by Texas-based <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/energy-transfer-partners" target="_self">Energy Transfer Partners</a> and its subsidiary <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sunoco" target="_self">Sunoco</a>, exploded in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/energy-transfer-pipeline-explodes-pennsylvania-2604024050.html">Beaver County, Pennsylvania</a> in September a week after it was activated.
</p><p>
<span></span>These risks have prompted calls from environmentalists and concerned citizens to halt new fracked gas projects such as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a>, which have both lost key permits in recent weeks.
</p><p>
<span></span>"Those who disregard the public's widespread opposition to fracked gas pipelines seemingly always point to how safe they are and closely watched they'll be. Nothing could be further from the truth," the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>'s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin said in an <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/11/icymi-90-all-gas-pipeline-blasts-draw-no-fines" target="_blank">online statement</a> in response to the E&E News article.
</p><p>
"We know we can't expect corporate polluters to look out for our health, but we should be able to count on our enforcement agencies to protect us. Stories like these show exactly why we should never build another fracked gas pipeline, especially when clean, renewable energy sources are abundant and affordable," Martin concluded.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="b8da9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="P4BFI11576662637"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1040634048077606912" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Pipeline in Hurricane Florence’s Potential Path Poses Added Danger https://t.co/73UAxfFiQS</div> — The YEARS Project (@The YEARS Project)<a href="https://twitter.com/YEARSofLIVING/statuses/1040634048077606912">1536941465.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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Caleb George / Unsplash
By Doug Norlen
This month the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a startling report, which finds that severe impacts of climate change are happening much sooner than previously expected, and that countries must take far more aggressive actions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts. The report finds that the burning of fossil fuels must be curbed sharply.
<p>The harmful role Wall Street banks play in propping up fossil projects around the world is increasingly known. Yet there is much less awareness of the role major cities play when they place billions of dollars of their public funds into these same Wall Street banks. According to L.A. city records, as of July 2018, Los Angeles had banking and/or investment relationships with several Wall Street banks, many of which are notorious for their financing of fossil fuel and human rights debacles around the world, including JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. </p><p>According to <a href="https://www.ran.org/bankingonclimatechange2018/" target="_blank">Banking on Climate Change</a>, a fossil fuel finance report card, between 2015 and 2017 these Wall Street banks collectively provided over $50 billion in financing for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tar-sands">tar sands</a>, ultra-deep <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">water drilling</a>, coal mining, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> power and liquid natural gas projects around the world. These projects contribute vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and many of them have severe local environmental, social and human rights impacts as well.</p><p>But in 2018, cities have more ethical options. Rather than investing the public's money in environmental and human destruction, cities can establish public banks. When properly structured and operated, public banks can prohibit the use of their funds for fossil fuel and other harmful projects. Instead, they can fund <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> and other green enterprises, affordable housing, education and low-cost loans to job-creating entrepreneurs—all while avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in exorbitant fees to Wall Street banks.</p><p>The movement to establish public banks is growing nationwide. California is at the forefront, with efforts to pass state-wide legislation allowing establishment of municipal banks as well as campaigns to establish public banks in San Francisco, Oakland and other East Bay cities, Los Angeles and other municipalities.</p><p>When Los Angeles voters go to the polls next week, they will decide whether to approve Charter Amendment B, which amends the city's charter to enable it to take affirmative steps to establish a public bank. And Los Angeles is a great case study on the need for public banks. According to Public Bank L.A., the city maintains bank accounts with between $4 billion and $12 billion in cash, and manages up to $45 billion in investments through large commercial banks.</p><p>The enormous sum of public funds that L.A. entrusts to fossil fuel banks undercuts the climate leadership of city officials. For example, this past August L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti joined a coalition of hundreds of mayors across the country to <a href="https://www.lamayor.org/mayor-garcetti-and-climate-mayors-representing-407-cities-denounce-trump-administrations-proposed" target="_blank">condemn</a> Donald Trump's plans to weaken vehicle efficiency standards and rescind California's waiver right to set stronger greenhouse gas regulations. In December 2016, Garcetti joined other mayors to <a href="https://www.lamayor.org/mayor-garcetti-leads-%25E2%2580%2598climate-mayors%25E2%2580%2599-oppose-us-withdrawal-paris-agreement" target="_blank">denounce</a> Trump's decision to walk away from the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>. The city council has shown progressive streaks on banking issues as well. In December 2017, the Council unanimously voted to enforce both federal and state Community Reinvestment Act ratings disqualifying Wells Fargo from submitting a Request for Proposal for the city's commercial banking services. And yet, the city still banks with Wells Fargo.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc4NTc5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTkwMDA2OX0.RIrxwD-wxziDe4dNJdVqMwDne5RTtWtsqMGkjmlzn04/img.jpg?width=980" id="f6566" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="41b3a8a40393b45de756cc0545117798" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Activist calling for Wells Fargo to divest from Dakota Access Pipeline. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Joe Piette / Flickr / Creative Commons</small></p><p>If L.A. voters approve Charter Amendment B, the city will be one step closer to creating a municipal bank and redirecting its billions of dollars of public funds to environmentally sound, fiscally smart, sustainable community needs. In doing so, L.A. will serve as a beacon of progress to inspire the larger national movement to establish public banks.<br></p><p>For a sense of why Los Angeles so badly needs to approve Charter Amendment B, we've included descriptions of just a handful of the harmful projects Los Angeles is currently supporting by keeping its money in fossil fuel banks (based on publicly available information). Here is a sample of some of the projects that LA's banks support:</p><p>Dakota Access Pipeline (United States):</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Citi — $235 million in project finance</li><li>MUFG — $235 million in project finance</li><li>Wells Fargo — $120 million in project finance</li></ul><p>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dakota-access-pipeline">Dakota Access Pipeline</a>, or DAPL, extends over 1,000 miles across several U.S. states, damaging Native American ancestral lands and water. Passing within just a half-mile of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, the pipeline has destroyed sacred sites and threatens the tribe's drinking water with potential oil spills. Beginning in 2016, Native American water protectors, including Standing Rock Sioux tribal elders and members, led opposition to DAPL. Supported by thousands of allies, this grew into one of the largest and most iconic movements in the world to halt fossil fuel <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipelines</a>. In response to peaceful, prayerful resistance, police from several states and agencies, members of the U.S. National Guard and armed private security forces used military equipment and tactics, including attack dogs, to intimidate, assault, arrest and otherwise commit grievous human rights abuses against water protectors and their allies. Opposition to the pipeline expanded far beyond the project site and supercharged the growing global movement against financial institutions that support fossil fuel projects.</p><p>Atlantic Coast Pipeline (United States):</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Bank of America — $673.5 million in corporate loans (13)</li><li>Citi — $673.5 million in corporate loans (14)</li><li>JP Morgan Chase — $648 million in corporate loans (15)</li><li>MUFG — $1.182 billion in corporate loans (16)</li><li>Wells Fargo — $673.5 million in corporate loans (17)</li></ul><p>The proposed 600-mile <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a>, running from West Virginia through North Carolina, is the third longest gas pipeline in production or in some phase of development over the past 20 years in the U.S. Trees have been cleared along the pipeline route and infrastructure development has begun. Although two lawsuits against the pipeline are now pending in federal and North Carolina courts, federal law allows pipelines to be constructed prior to the resolution of all litigation. The ACP was the only oil or gas pipeline to be on Donald Trump's list of 50 Priority National Security Projects prior to his election.</p><p>According to published reports, the central purpose of the ACP is to enter South Carolina and eventually reach Elba Island, Georgia where gas will be exported from a liquid natural gas facility now under construction. This recognition raises serious concerns regarding the use of eminent domain to take privately owned property for private gain instead of public use.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc4NjYzMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjQ0MzIzNX0.J0GH5QBDugFbF00ErR3WiD5AW7RIVWLvOJxDo94osj4/img.jpg?width=980" id="4c863" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fc1722bcfc6e426b2ee2bf0a8409bfb2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Pax Ahimsa Gethen / Flickr</small></p><p>The ACP threatens the livelihood of more than 30,000 indigenous peoples that live along the pipeline route. In May 2018, an alliance of community, statewide and national groups filed a complaint to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a>) Civil Rights Compliance Office, alleging that the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality discriminated on the basis of race and color in issuing permits and certifications to the ACP as part of the permitting process. In September 2018, environmental groups filed legal challenges in an appeals court against federal permitting agencies.<br></p><p>Kusile Power Station (South Africa):</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Bank of America — financial advisor</li><li>JP Morgan Chase — financial advisor</li><li>MUFG — part of 705 million euro corporate loan to South Africa's state power company, Eskom, to purchase boilers from Hitachi Power Europe for the Kusile coal power plant</li></ul><p>Once completed, the 4,800-megawatt Kusile coal plant in South Africa will be one of the largest coal plants in the world. The estimated annual greenhouse gas equivalent emissions of the plant—30 million tons—would increase South African energy sector emissions by 12.8 percent and the country's total contribution to climate change by 9.7 percent. South Africa already has the distinction of being among the top global greenhouse gas emitters per capita. The Kusile project area already exceeds permitted ambient levels of hazardous <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollutants</a> that create soot and smog, which cause harm to respiratory, cardiovascular and nervous systems, leading to heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases, according to Physicians for Social Responsibility. If completed, Kusile will increase the cost of electricity for the poor and household consumers to compensate for Apartheid-era "special pricing agreements" that give large industrial users, which consume most of South Africa's electricity, guaranteed rates that are among the lowest in the world. The cost of Kusile, which in 2007 was estimated by Eskom to be 80 billion rand, had more than doubled to 172 billion rand by 2016. It is "expected to further strain Eskom's financial resources, and place upward pressure on Eskom's electricity price trajectory in the years ahead." In 2015 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Hitachi with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with contracts to build Kusile and Medupi (another enormous coal plant in South Africa), resulting in a $19 million settlement.</p><p>Long Phu-1 Coal Plant (Vietnam):</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>MUFG and JP Morgan Chase — among the lead financial arrangers, with potential combined $650 million in finance</li></ul><p>Long Phu-1 in Vietnam would emit an estimated 6.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year. As a "supercritical" coal power plant, Long Phu-1 is prohibited from being financed by most official government export credit agencies (ECA), including the U.S. Export-Import Bank. However, the former director of the EPA's Air Enforcement Division, Bruce Buckheit, revealed that the project consulting firm Environmental Resources Management doctored the coal plant's greenhouse gas emissions estimates to make Long Phu-1 appear to be a more efficient "ultra-supercritical" plant, which would be allowed under ECA coal financing restrictions. Analysis of Long Phu-1 by Friends of the Earth U.S. reveals that the project violates other international policies, including requirements to analyze alternatives, identify cumulative and associated risks and impacts, evaluate labor and working conditions, prevent pollution, protect community health, provide safety and security, and ensure biodiversity conservation. In February 2018, the New York Times reported that U.S. Export-Import Bank financing for Long Phu-1 had collapsed after it was revealed that project financiers included Vnesheconombank, a Russian bank that is on the U.S. government's sanctions list and is part of a federal investigation into possible collusion between the Russian government and the Trump presidential campaign. It was also reported that a top Long Phu-1 project official had been sentenced to prison for corruption. MUFG and JP Morgan Chase, like the U.S. Export-Import Bank, must also comply with U.S. sanctions. However, it remains unclear whether these banks continue to be potential financiers of Long Phu-1.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="319bd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="AXJZ871576661973"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="996952236004700165" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">WATCH: 3 communities who stood up to Big Oil and won https://t.co/58BKMR6zGK #FossilFree https://t.co/dqOuksByOh</div> — 350 dot org (@350 dot org)<a href="https://twitter.com/350/statuses/996952236004700165">1526526910.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><em>Doug Norlen is the economic policy program director for <a href="https://foe.org/city-angels-funds-hellish-fossil-fuel-projects/" target="_blank">Friends of the Earth</a>.</em><br></p>
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Construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Appalachian Trail Conservancy screenshot
By Courtney Lindwall
Communities along the 300-mile proposed route for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) heard some good news this week. On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously voted to vacate a permit required by the Clean Water Act, which was previously issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The ruling stated the Army Corps lacked the authority to substitute one type of construction for another for the natural gas pipeline, which would crisscross rivers and other sensitive aquatic ecosystems hundreds of times between northern West Virginia and southern Virginia.
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="608d867c35e4e1ffe7025a29dcbf103a"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/nrdc.org/videos/10156166532779454/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
<p>The case—brought by the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>, the <a href="http://wvrivers.org/" target="_blank">West Virginia Rivers Coalition</a>, and other citizen organizations—does not kill the project outright, but it is a significant roadblock.<br></p><p>MVP is <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/controversial-new-pipelines-may-slice-through-southeast" target="_blank">one of two</a> pipelines (the other is the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a>) that have drummed up <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/virginians-fly-flags-resistance-fight-against-two-pipelines" target="_blank">fierce public backlash</a> across the region. Concerned residents have been peacefully protesting the projects for months, sometimes among the trees they would be helping to save.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="4e0e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="G0N0P81576662507"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1047199355592232961" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Day 28 and we're #stillhere ... this picture was taken a couple days ago and is of Nettle watching loggers hike pas… https://t.co/IIK0JzkNpD</div> — Appalachians Against Pipelines (@Appalachians Against Pipelines)<a href="https://twitter.com/stopthemvp/statuses/1047199355592232961">1538506757.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/6-ways-mountain-valley-and-atlantic-coast-pipelines-would-be-bad-virginia" target="_blank">hastily approved</a> both pipelines <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/ferc-commissioner-dissents-33ed185fed9d/" target="_blank">late last year</a>, ignoring the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/threats-to-water-quality-from-mountain-valley-pipeline-and-atlantic-coast-pipeline-water-crossings-in-virginia_2018-02-26.pdf" target="_blank">serious risks</a> a spill would pose to the region's watersheds, such as the Chesapeake Bay. Between the two projects, more than <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/6-ways-mountain-valley-and-atlantic-coast-pipelines-would-be-bad-virginia" target="_blank">315 acres of critical wetlands</a> are at stake, many of which drain into Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The extra sediment that construction would kick up would also harm fish and other aquatic life.<br></p><p>Tuesday's decision isn't the first time the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2018/08/06/fourth-circuit-strikes-again-atlantic-coast-pipeline-permit-vacated/" target="_blank">pushed back</a> against the Trump administration's <a href="https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/wv_troubled_transition/regulators-change-the-rules-to-ease-pipeline-approval/article_34473938-91e4-556e-bc36-12ecb4a1fb4e.html" target="_blank">fast-track approval process</a> for environmentally questionable projects. It also <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/win-court-pulls-key-permit-massive-and-dirty-atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_blank">pulled a key permit</a> for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in May after finding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to set clear and adequate limits on its threats to the environment and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered species</a>.</p><p>The court will soon issue an opinion to more thoroughly explain its decision, but the pipeline builders are already saying they're looking for a workaround. So Virginians, keep fighting the good fight, and call on your governor, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/amy-mall/northam-must-act-protect-clean-water-pipeline-threats" target="_blank">Ralph Northam</a>, to block the pipeline once and for all.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="a29ed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="35TM7C1576662508"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="988534265657876480" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">With Treetop Protest, 61-Year-Old Red Terry Leads Fight Against Mountain Valley Pipeline https://t.co/kvIkoZQL7k… https://t.co/BVNFojO1fv</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/988534265657876480">1524519909.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Atlantic Coast Pipeline Work Restarts as Opponents Decry 'Rushed Decisions'
19 September 2018
Energy
Pipe being transported to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Photo credit: Mark Levisay / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled Monday that work could resume on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which opponents call "unnecessary and a boondoggle," the Charlotte Business Journal reported.
Work on the controversial pipeline halted last month after a federal appeals court vacated two permits required for the project to complete its 600 mile route from West Virginia, through Virginia, to North Carolina.
<p style="">The pipeline is a project backed by Duke Energy, Dominion Energy and Southern Co. to carry fracked <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="_self">natural gas</a>.</p><p style="">The permits in question, from the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Park Service (NPS) were redone Sept. 11 and 14 respectively, the FERC said in its letter authorizing construction. </p><p style="">"We fixed those issues and FERC lifted our stay. So our folks are back to work, starting today," Dominion Resources State Policy Manager Bob Orndorff told the West Virginia state legislature Tuesday, <a href="http://wvmetronews.com/2018/09/18/workers-return-to-atlantic-coast-pipeline-construction/" target="_blank">MetroNews reported</a>.</p><p style="">But pipeline opponents were skeptical of the new permits. </p><p style="">"These two agencies got into trouble once for making rushed decisions on a political timetable," <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a> (SELC) lawyer D.J. Gerken told the Charlotte Business Journal. "The agencies turned very fast and, as far as we can tell, without much concern for whether they were done correctly."</p><p style="">SELC brought the court case that led the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate the permits.</p><p style="">The court found that the original NPS permit was invalid because it did not explain how the tree-cutting necessary for the pipeline's passage through the Blue Ridge Parkway would not contradict its scenic purpose.</p><p style="">The original FWS permit, meanwhile, did not adequately address the pipeline's impact on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>, the court ruled. </p><p style="">Gerken told The Charlotte Business Journal that the SELC is reviewing the FERC decision and will decide promptly whether to appeal or not. </p><p style=""><a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">The Sierra Club</a> agreed that the new permits seemed rushed.</p><p style="">"Rather than taking the time to address the major problems we have seen in federal agencies' reviews of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, these agencies continue to rush through a rubberstamp process that ignores legal requirements—not to mention the public interest," Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/09/agencies-rush-out-new-permits-for-atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_blank">statement</a>. </p><p style="">The Sierra Club said the original permits were rushed through due to pressure from utilities and the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Trump</a> administration. </p><p style="">"We don't even need these fracked gas pipelines in the first place, so not only should the stop work order remain in place, all construction should be permanently halted," Martin said.</p><p style="">Even as crews get back to work, construction along some parts of the pipeline's route might be delayed for a different reason—<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-florence" target="_self">Hurricane Florence</a>. </p><p style="">"We are closely monitoring weather conditions across the project footprint and will of course only resume work in areas where it is safe to do so and where weather conditions permit," pipeline spokesperson Aaron Ruby told the Charlotte Business Journal.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="0c5c2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9K4QUC1576662508"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="828967632942530560" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Trump Team Tied to Atlantic Coast Pipeline Now Being Pushed by White House https://t.co/nc0ihn5DYS @SierraClub @350 @foe_us @billmckibben</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/828967632942530560">1486476259.0</a></blockquote></div>
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A Virginia farm along the proposed path of the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Norm Shafer / Washington Post / Getty Images
August is off to a good start for environmental groups and communities in Virginia and West Virginia who oppose two pipelines that would carry fracked natural gas through the region.
<p>Three days after the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-halted-2593256634.html" target="_self">ordered work to pause</a> on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline" target="_self">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a>, its sister pipeline also ran into legal trouble. </p><p>A federal appeals court on Monday vacated two permits required by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline" target="_self">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a> to complete its 600 mile project beginning in West Virginia and traveling through Virginia to North Carolina, <a href="http://www.startribune.com/appeals-court-tosses-key-permits-for-atlantic-coast-pipeline/490185031/" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>. </p><p>"There is no right way to build these dirty, dangerous fossil fuel projects, and people in Virginia and across the country will continue to come together to fight them until they are permanently halted," <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> Executive Director Michael Brune told The Associated Press. </p><p>The Sierra Club was one of the groups, along with <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="_blank">Defenders of Wildlife</a> and the <a href="http://www.vawilderness.org/" target="_blank">Virginia Wilderness Committee</a>, that brought the case that led to the ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case was argued by the <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>. </p><p>The court ruled that the a National Park Service (NPS) permit allowing the pipeline to pass under the Blue Ridge Parkway was invalid because it did not explain how the pipeline's construction would not contradict the scenic purpose of the parkway, which connects Virginia's Shenandoah National Park to North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains National Park. </p><p>Construction would require cutting enough trees that a gap in the forest would be visible from at least one parkway observation point. </p><p>Chief Judge Roger Gregory called the permit "arbitrary and capricious" in his ruling. </p><p>"Arbitrary and capricious" were also the words used by the court to justify vacating a second permit granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because it didn't specify any limits to the pipeline's impact on five threatened or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>. </p><p>The revoking of the second permit built on a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-endangered-species-2569372543.html" target="_self">ruling in May</a>, in which the court initially found that the "incidental take statement," which is the statement that sets limits on the impact of projects on vulnerable species, was not sufficiently clear.</p><p>Following that initial ruling, the pipeline's builders <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-coast-pipeline-endangered-species-2571382531.html" target="_self">said they would suspend</a> construction along 21 miles in West Virginia and 79 miles in Virginia until a new "incidental take statement" was completed.</p><p>In a footnote to Monday's ruling, the court said that revoking the permits meant that FERC's approval of the pipeline was invalid until new permits were issued, since that approval was contingent on satisfactory permits. </p><p>"Absent such authorizations, ACP, should it continue to proceed with construction, would violate FERC'S certificate of public convenience and necessity," the footnote said, according to The Associated Press.</p><p>Environmental Law Center senior attorney D.J. Gerken thought the ruling would be a huge stumbling block for the project.</p><p>"Today's decision means Atlantic has to go back to the drawing board," he told The Associated Press. </p><p>Dominion Energy, the company leading development on the project, disagreed.</p><p>"We believe the Court's concerns can be promptly addressed through additional review by the agencies without causing unnecessary delay to the project," the company said in a written statement reported by The Associated Press.</p>
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Atlantic Coast Pipeline to Sideline 100 Miles of Construction in Virginia and West Virginia
23 May 2018
Energy
NPCA Online / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Builders of the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline told federal authorities they will delay construction along 21 miles in West Virginia and 79 miles in Virginia until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issues a revised "incidental take statement," which limits the number of threatened or endangered species that might be accidentally killed or harmed during development activities.
Lead developer Dominion Energy filed documents Tuesday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in response to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling last week. The court sided with environmental groups and their lawyers that the FWS' initial review was not clear enough in the case of the $6.5 billion pipeline and vacated one of its key permits.
<p>
Environmentalists worry that the 600-mile
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking">fracked</a> gas <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines">pipeline</a> from West Virginia to North Carolina could pose risks for a rare bumblebee, the Roanoke logperch and Indiana and Northern long-eared bats and other threatened or endangered species. It will <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dominion-pipeline-mountaintop-removal-2381652632.html">also</a> cut through through forests, pristine mountains and involve the blasting, excavation and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountaintop-removal" target="_blank">removal of mountaintops</a> along 38 miles of Appalachian ridgelines as part of the construction.
</p><p>
In its letter to FERC, Dominion said construction will be avoided along those 100 miles in West Virginia and Virginia where protected species might be put at risk until the revised incidental take statement is issued.
</p><p>
Dominion did not disclose the specific areas it will avoid "because this information contains the locations of sensitive species which are customarily treated as privileged and confidential," the company stated in a news release quoted by
<a href="https://www.wvnews.com/theet/news/developers-agree-to-avoid-pipeline-construction-along-miles-in-w/article_fc12fca8-0d67-502f-8f32-40c1816eea83.html" target="_blank">The Exponent Telegram</a>.
</p><p>
The
<a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="_blank">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>—which argued on behalf of the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>, <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="_blank">Defenders of Wildlife</a> and <a href="http://www.vawilderness.org/" target="_blank">Virginia Wilderness Committee</a> at the appeals court—believes all pipeline construction cannot continue without a valid permit.
</p><p>
"According to the Federal Regulatory Commission's own certificate, FERC's previous notices issued to Atlantic Coast Pipeline developers to proceed are no longer valid," said senior attorney D.J. Gerken in a
<a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/news-and-press/news-feed/ferc-weighs-whether-acp-construction-can-continue" target="_blank">statement</a>. "If what FERC is now saying is that developers can proceed to construction without the Fish and Wildlife Service's valid permit, it is undermining its own requirements."
</p><p>
SELC recently sent a
<a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/uploads/words_docs/Letter_from_SELC_re_Vacatur_of_ACP_Incidental_Take_Statement.pdf" target="_blank">letter</a> to FERC outlining the impact of an invalid permit on pipeline construction and requests it fulfill its obligations to stop further construction until its resolved.
</p><p>
<span></span>However, backers of the pipeline insist that construction will move forward as planned. "We will continue to move forward with construction as scheduled and fully comply as required with all permits and agency requirements. We remain committed to taking all reasonable measures to protect the environment and the species while ensuring progress on a project that is essential to the economic and environmental well-being of the region," Dominion stated.
</p><p>
As The Exponent Telegram noted, Dominion contends that the appellate court's May 15 ruling only impacts construction in areas where at-risk species and their habitats may be present. Furthermore, the company believes the incidental take statement invalidated by the court does not impact the pipeline route or other required permits.
</p><p>
"It simply removes the shield that protects against an otherwise unlawful take, and for that reason, we will avoid any activities in any areas identified by (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) that would be likely to adversely affect any of the listed species," Dominion said in the news release.
</p><p>
FERC will determine the next steps once the Atlantic Coast Pipeline documents are officially entered into the record, commission spokesperson Tamara Young-Allen told The Exponent Telegram.
</p><p>
The Southern Environmental Law Center's requests to halt all construction on the pipeline "are under consideration," Young-Allen said.
</p><p>
In the meantime, Young-Allen noted, all previously issued notices to proceed are in effect, with the exception of the areas with threatened or endangered species habitat that the pipeline builders agreed to avoid.
</p><p>
Nonetheless, grassroots resistance against pipelines is growing. Opponents of the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a> launched the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-protesters-2571084795.html">ninth aerial blockade</a> this week to stop progress of the proposed natural gas pipeline running from northwest West Virginia to southern Virginia.
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