Category Archives: Safety

Just 2 Minutes?


After the cracking sound and the water pouring from the concrete basement floor, building inspectors determined the foundation was crumbling as a crew was doing horizontal drilling 100 feet from her house for New Jersey Natural Gas’ Southern Reliability Link. The inspectors gave her two minutes to take what she could before leaving the house.

An “inadvertent return” is the unintended discharge of drilling mud to the surface through a natural crack or fissure in the bedrock being drilled. A New Jersey Natural Gas spokesman said the drilling mud that leaked was a non-toxic mix of water and naturally occurring clay. Small consolation when the foundation of your house is crumbling.

Horizontal drilling is the same process that Dominion would use to drill under the Blue Ridge Parkway near the entrance to Wintergreen – if they are ever able to resolve the remaining eight legal barriers to ACP construction, and if FERC grants them an extension on the expiring construction permit.

See the press account here.

For insight into a few of the other kinds of problems caused by horizontal drilling, see Drilling Mud Is Apparently Difficult to Control and U.S. blocks major pipeline after 18 leaks and a 2 million gallon spill of drilling mud.

Ten Reasons to Oppose the ACP

Here are 10 reasons why Friends of Nelson opposes the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. In the coming weeks we will be posting expanded information on each of the 10 reasons. We hope this information will help clarify your thinking and help you to explain to family, friends, neighbors, and legislators why you oppose the ACP. (Click here to download a printable version of the list.)

1. No Demand or Need
With evidence of reduced future demand and with recent upgrades to existing pipelines, energy analysts argue that there is no need domestically for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Additionally, foreign demand for this gas is better satisfied by nearer sources which can be produced and delivered at a lower cost.

2. Climate Change Implications
Gas pipelines leak methane gas and their compressor and metering stations regularly release methane and other harmful pollutants. The ACP will therefore significantly contribute to climate change.

3. Cost Burden on Ratepayers
The pipeline’s almost $8 billion construction cost will eventually mean rate increases for all Dominion customers as they will have to foot a large part of the ACP cost, regardless of whether it is put into service or not.

4. Discourages Utility Investment in Alternatives
The ACP’s possible construction and its huge capital investment cost will discourage utilities from promoting and developing non-fossil fuel, increasingly cost-effective alternatives such as wind and solar.

5. Eminent Domain Seizures of Private Property
Through the imposition of Eminent Domain, the proposed route confiscates and restricts Nelson landowners’ property rights, lowering their own and adjoining neighbors’ property values.

6. Landslide Danger on Steep Slopes
The proposed construction and placement of the pipeline endangers Nelson citizens’ lives and property, especially on steep slopes which are highly susceptible to landslide failures. Note that ruptured pipelines are likely to explode.

7. Disproportionate Harm to Minority Communities
The ACP will specifically harm the historic African American community of Union Hill by locating a dangerous and polluting compressor station in its midst.

8. Containment Failures Impact on Streams and Drinking Water
As recently demonstrated with the Mountain Valley Pipeline, construction of the ACP will, despite promised containment safeguards, silt up mountain and valley streams, affecting local drinking water and aquatic life.

9. Forest Fragmentation and Effects on Endangered Species
The ACP’s construction will further fragment our vulnerable eastern forests, reducing the habitat and population of Federally-listed endangered species. Such activity could potentially cause their extinction.

10. Detracts from Scenic Views on Public Lands
The pipeline corridor will detract from scenic views on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail and National Forest Lands. One of the most prominent viewing locations is at the Parkway’s Raven’s Roost overlook.

ABRA Alerts Feds to ACP Safety Problems

From Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance ABRA Update #249, October 18, 2019

ABRA’s CSI program has provided more evidence to federal regulators of unsafe and non-compliant construction practices of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).

On July 25, 2019, the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) wrote Dominion Energy Transmission, Inc. (DETI), which is managing the construction of the ACP, concerning trench widths that did not appear to meet specifications and the presence of bedrock and loose boulders in pipeline trenches. The locations were within the first miles of the project in West Virginia. DETI responded on August 21 denying that the conditions cited by PHMSA inspectors existed. This prompted ABRA to examine the reported incidents base upon photographic evidence acquired by ABRA/CSI Pipeline Air Force photo surveillance flights.

In a October 16,2019, letter to PHMSA, Dan Shaffer, ABRA’s Geospatial Consultant, brought to the agency’s attention photographs that contradict DETI’s contention. Shaffer explained that “CSI has identified 25 locations along the route that seem to show large rocks loose in the trench, directly underneath the pipe, incorporated with backfill, or protruding into the trench in close proximity to the pipe. . . . We are concerned that these conditions place the Atlantic Coast Pipeline at a significant risk of damage during hydrostatic testing, increased rates of corrosion due to damaged epoxy coating, or rupture due to landslides or even small slips.” One of the photo examples provided to PHMSA with the letter is reproduced below.

9/19/2018 1122 MP 33.8 -80.203613, 38.908424 5,5 Shattered bedrock lines the trench.

Concluding, Shaffer said: “Our photographic evidence suggests that such conditions are common practice on this project. We feel that these locations warrant additional investigation to ensure that the project is being constructed in a safe manner.”

Dominion Responds to FERC Request on Pipe Coatings

On July 3, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requested that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC and Dominion Transmission, Inc. provide within 20 days toxicological environmental and health information on epoxy coatings associated with pipeline materials used in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (see FERC Requests Toxicological Info on ACP Coatings)

On July 22, 2019, Dominion filed a response to FERC’s request – a two page covering letter, a two page response, and 315 pages of attachments, most of which are safety data sheets (SDS) from manufacturers.

In their covering letter, Dominion says the SDS information “is based on the products’ hazards before they are reacted and cured on the pipe. The warnings are based on the presence of substances at very low amounts in the powder or liquid prior to application and cure. According to the manufacturers, these substances are expected to be encapsulated in the polymer matrix when the coating is applied and fully cured onto the pipe and would be dispersed throughout the coating and not migrate onto the surface or leach out of the coating.” We note the careful wording: safety data sheets are based on hazards before they are cured on the pipe, and the substances “are expected to be encapsulated” when fully cured.  Nothing about hazards after coatings have been exposed to UV and to weather for 3-4 years.

Continuing, the letter discusses two different 3M coatings, and says, “Although 3M has no conclusive evidence at this time to confirm their exact identity, the degradation products are generated in low quantities, have low water solubility, and are therefore not expected to enter the environment in amounts capable of producing an adverse human health effect.” Again, note the language” “no conclusive evidence at this time to confirm their exact identity,” and “not expected to enter the environment.”

Dominion says they will be doing evaluation of “composition, toxicity, and potential for environmental exposure” of the primary 3M coating, and will submit results by August 23, 2019.

A Landslide Study of the ACP in Nelson


At the Friends of Nelson public meeting on June 30, 2019, Anne Witt, a Geohazards Geologist from the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, presented her work on a VDEM-FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Project. This project is to develop a risk assessment of landslides in western Albemarle and Nelson counties based on previous landslide events that occurred largely during Hurricane Camille. According to Ms. Witt, previous landslide locations are prone to having future ones.

The Grant Project consists of 4 parts or stages:

  1. Remote sensing of landslides in the study area using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanning technology
  2. Geologic field mapping of landslide prone areas
  3. Landslide Susceptibility Mapping
  4. Presentation of data products and results to the planning community and the public

The project is presently in its first stage, so mapping is preliminary. However, LIDAR has revealed a larger number and a more accurate depiction of these previous landslides in Nelson County than seen before.

Friends of Nelson has overlaid the draft mapping of these landslides on the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline route. Doing so reveals how many of these slides are on or proximate to the route. Given the number and concentration of these debris flows, we feel that landowners and county officials should be aware of these past events in assessing future risk and mitigating it. Risk awareness is important given the immense amount of ground disturbance that would happen during pipeline construction and the significant potential for pipeline ruptures and explosions resulting from possible slide events afterwards.

In the figure above, approximately 60 debris flows (green triangles) and 10 debris slides (blue triangles) are on or near the ACP proposed route (in gold).

The figure below illustrates how LIDAR reveals the scope and path of previous slides that is not visible even with aerial photography in winter with no leaves on the trees.

See the short summary of Anne Witt’s talk here. Many thanks to Ms. Witt for sharing some of the slides from her fascinating presentation, and to Charlie Hickox for the summary and for the overlay showing the ACP route.

FERC Requests Toxicological Info on ACP Coatings

On July 3, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requested that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC and Dominion Transmission, Inc. provide within 20 days toxicological environmental and health information on epoxy coatings associated with pipeline materials used in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The operative language in the request is:

Please provide toxicological environmental and health information for Fusion Bonded Epoxy (FBE) coatings (3M™ ScotchkoteTM Fusion Bonded Epoxy Coatings and 3M™ ScotchkoteTM Liquid Epoxy Coatings, or their equivalents) used for coating the project’s pipeline and associated utilities. Evaluate and report on the toxicity of the FBE from all potential exposure pathways including from direct and indirect human contact, ingestion or inhalation; as well as environmental pathways (leachability and mobility) in air, soils, surface water, and groundwater. The evaluation should likewise include an analysis of human and environmental exposure from the degradation of FBE due to exposure to sunlight, and sloughing (chalking) of the material.

FERC’s full request is here.

Progressive Pulse news coverage is here.