January 2017

1-31-17 Roanoke Times-Dispatch. FERC delays release date for final environmental statement for Mountain Valley Pipeline. “The federal commission evaluating the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline confirmed Tuesday that it is delaying the release of a final environmental impact statement for the controversial project. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had previously said the final environmental statement for the interstate natural gas transmission pipeline would be available March 10. FERC did not identify a new target date. The commission said it is not uncommon to change the anticipated date of release for environmental review documents. In a letter dated Jan. 26, FERC advised Mountain Valley of a broad array of information needed before FERC can complete the environmental impact statement for the 42-inch-diameter, 303-mile buried pipeline. FERC’s 28-page request for new information also cites numerous discrepancies and inconsistencies in data previously provided by Mountain Valley. The commission’s inquiries range from questions about potential project impacts for wildlife and historic districts and properties, to requests for more details about determining compensation for landowners whose water sources are affected by pipeline construction or operation. FERC asks for more details, too, about ‘high consequence areas’ along the pipeline route where a rupture might yield significant damage to property and people, and it instructs Mountain Valley to discuss how it would determine compensation ‘for affected parties should an incident occur.’ FERC instructed Mountain Valley to file a response within 20 days of receiving the letter. The commission noted, ‘Once we have received your responses and reviewed them for completeness, we will establish a revised schedule for completing the EIS.’… On Sept. 16, FERC issued the draft environmental impact statement for the project. As an interstate pipeline, the project requires FERC approval to proceed. FERC set Dec. 22 as the deadline for comment on the draft statement but ultimately accepted comments beyond that date — especially from landowners affected by route changes proposed by Mountain Valley in October. Those route changes are cited in FERC’s Jan. 26 letter, among other reasons for the commission’s request for updated information from Mountain Valley. Also cited are some of the public comments made about the draft environmental impact statement. The release of the final environmental impact statement triggers a 90-day deadline for a decision by FERC’s commissioners about whether to grant a certificate to allow the Mountain Valley project to proceed. The deadline for the March 10 release date would have been June 8.”

1-30-17 Richmond Times-Dispatch. Fracking chemical recipes could be kept secret in Virginia under bill passed by House. “Chemical recipes used in fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil by high-pressure ground injections, could be kept secret under legislation that passed the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday. The House voted 59-37 in favor of legislation to exempt information about chemical concentrations from disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act as trade secrets of the companies seeking permits from the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy…. The issue could be coming to Virginia within a few years. Companies have shown interest in the area known as the Taylorsville basin east of Fredericksburg, stirring concerns in Caroline and King George counties. Since 2010, Texas-based Shore Exploration and Production Corp. has acquired 86,000 acres in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck…. Some lawmakers argued that the chemical concentrations alone can hold information vital to public safety. Del. David L. Bulova, D-Fairfax, drew an analogy to a chemical used in swimming pools. ‘A little bit of chlorine in that water is great,’ Bulova said. ‘If you put in too much chlorine, that can be exceptionally dangerous.’ Bulova said he was concerned that Virginians who sense something amiss with their water could be blocked from investigating what might be in it. ‘What this is about is the family who might notice a change in the smell or taste of their water who then contacts the Virginia Department of Health,’ Bulova said. ‘This bill doesn’t prevent our state agencies from talking to each other,’ Robinson replied. ‘If there’s any kind of problem, they definitely can coordinate with each other.’ Robinson noted that she has a separate bill that explicitly authorizes the energy department to share information with other agencies and local officials in emergencies.”

1-30-17 News Virginian (opinion). Pipeline ‘impact statement’ a bloated whitewash. “I have been reviewing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2,376-page draft environmental impact statement on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, or ACP as it commonly called. To read the entire document in the 97 days from issuance to the end of the comment period on April 5th, we would have to average 25 pages per day. We would also have to understand the obscure language and acronyms in the document, and make meaningful written comments to FERC. In fact, we have the opportunity to comment verbally at upcoming meetings, but that would require us to read the impact statement, understand it, and prepare comments even sooner. FERC could have made things a little easier for us by summarizing the statement in one word: ‘insignificant’. The commission has concluded that virtually all of the multitude of negative effects the ACP would have on us, our state, our country and our planet would be mitigated to insignificant status…. Prior to the impact statement’s release, I had some hope that FERC would really consider all of the well-researched, logical, and solid scientific comments that we have submitted regarding the negative impacts of the ACP. No more. FERC has not given our comments a fair review. I believe the regulators will work hard to dismiss these comments in the future, using the same misleading and inaccurate statements that Dominion, the lead company involved in the ACP, and its partners have used in their application and public pronouncements…. It is likely that our best chance of stopping the ACP is through the legal system. I am forever grateful to all of the nonprofit groups, and all of you who are working in opposition to this two-headed snake. We can stop the ACP and FERC by persevering through adversity, acting with integrity, exposing the lies, and revealing the truth. When all the facts are on the table, this snake will be forced to crawl back into its hole.”

1-28-17 WV Gazette. Monroe County couple at center of pipeline debate. “The alternate route would run down the wooded hillside, bisecting the scenic meadows and hayfields…. That’s the fear Bryan and Doris McCurdy have harbored since the Monroe County couple first found out a 42-inch gas pipeline might be laid through the piece of property they have called home since the 1980s…. After being notified surveyors wanted to plot a route past their secluded home, the couple unexpectedly found themselves consulting with attorneys, addressing their county commissioners and traveling from one courthouse to another in an attempt to make sure the Mountain Valley Pipeline didn’t become a permanent fixture in their backyard. In doing so, the couple have been thrust into the center of a precedent-setting lawsuit over whether EQT, the pipeline developer, and other corporations can use eminent domain to survey the property of unwilling landowners in West Virginia…. In many ways, last year’s debate in the Legislature was cast as a choice between protecting the property rights of West Virginians or conforming to gas industry requests in the hope it will improve a portion of the state’s lagging economy…. ‘If our Legislature changes the law, they, as far as I’m concerned, are making a statement to the world that the profit that private companies make and what incidental money happens to come to people in this state is more important than the rights and interests of the citizens,’ he said, as he sat in his living room on a recent rainy afternoon…. Signs protesting the pipeline can be seen all along U.S. 219, a winding highway, dotted with old barns and small antique shops, which runs the length of the county…. Several people in the community have asked Doris McCurdy why she and her husband continue to put up such a fight. They think the pipeline is coming through no matter what, even if EQT can’t force the McCurdys and other landowners to allow surveyors onto their property. ‘If it does, it does,” she’s told those people. “But they will know we’re here, and they will know we do have a voice in things.'”

1-28-17 NBC 29. People on Downtown Mall Take Part in Prayer for Standing Rock Tribe. “People gathered on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall Saturday in prayer to support Native Americans at the Standing Rock Reservation, part of an international prayer broadcast in response to the Trump administration looking toward permitting the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

1-27-17 Bloomberg. Resignation Threatens to Bring U.S. Pipeline Rulings to Halt. “A U.S. energy regulator filed his letter of resignation on Thursday. And with that letter, he may have just brought federal decisions on multibillion-dollar natural gas pipelines to a halt. Norman Bay said he’ll leave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission effective Feb. 3. His announcement followed President Donald Trump’s decision to replace him as the agency’s chairman with his fellow commissioner, Cheryl LaFleur. With Bay’s departure, the agency will have just two commissioners, short of a quorum needed to decide anything from controversial gas pipeline projects to contested utility mergers. His resignation comes just as developers are rushing to build a network of pipelines to accommodate booming natural gas production from shale reserves in the Northeast, unlocking bottlenecks that have caused prices to plunge…. LaFleur, who Trump appointed as acting chairman on Thursday, said in a statement that the agency is “working to get as many orders out as possible” before Bay’s departure. ‘Basically, if they don’t have a certificate by Feb. 3, they don’t get to start construction until the fall,’ Christi Tezak, managing director of Washington-based industry consultant ClearView Energy Partners, said in a phone interview.”

1-27-17 Roanoke Times. Pipeline’s impacts on Appalachian Trail raise concerns. “The winds blew cold Thursday across the Symms Gap Meadow where the Appalachian Trail traverses the crest of Peters Mountain near Pearisburg. And chilly was the response among 13 visitors to the site Thursday to the idea of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline crossing near this spot along the iconic trail. As currently envisioned, the buried 42-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline would climb Peters Mountain from Monroe County, West Virginia, cross the Appalachian Trail in a section managed by the Jefferson National Forest, and descend the mountain in Giles County before continuing east. To date, no one, aside from Mountain Valley Pipeline, seems satisfied with the project’s current plans to cross the trail. And there are related fears about the impacts to substantial surface waters and groundwater resources on Peters Mountain from trenching, blasting and erosion…. The conservancy has said Mountain Valley has turned a deaf ear to many of the organization’s concerns about the proposed crossing. The Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club has concurred. Andrew Downs, a regional director for the conservancy, was part of the crowd visiting Peters Mountain on Thursday. It was his third visit to the site. He said Mountain Valley has rejected alternatives without adequate analysis that would route the pipeline across the trail in places where the corridor is already impacted by development — including roads and highways, such as U.S. 460, or other utility rights-of-way. ‘I would much rather champion a good idea than oppose a bad idea,’ Downs said. ‘This is not a bunch of granola-crunchers opposing development.’… Giles County’s comments about the draft environmental impact statement echoed similar comments by boards of supervisors in Craig, Montgomery and Roanoke counties that the document was insufficient. Many who have commented on the draft statement have called on FERC to issue a revised or supplemental document. FERC has said it plans to issue, as planned, a final environmental impact statement in March. Yet the 31-page letter Thursday from FERC to Mountain Valley requesting additional information suggested FERC might establish a revised schedule for the final statement. Meanwhile, the pipeline’s current route would pass close to the boundary of the Peters Mountain Wilderness area and also near the Brush Mountain Wilderness farther east.”

1-26-17 News Virginian. Report says Trump has Atlantic Coast Pipeline among infrastructure priorities. “A published report by McClatchy Newspapers said President Trump is including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline among a list of 50 national infrastructure projects his administration considers priorities. While that report could not be confirmed by the lead utility project in the pipeline project, Richmond-based Dominion Resources, a Dominion spokesman said Trump’s support of pipeline projects is a positive step…. An opponent of the pipeline, Augusta County Alliance Co-Chair Nancy Sorrells, offered her updated thoughts to the Augusta County Board of Supervisors Wednesday night.Sorrells told supervisors that while the pipeline is far from final approval, ‘the game has gotten real serious. And without a doubt the county and its communities are going to take the hardest hit if this pipeline becomes a reality.’ She added that if the Augusta County Service Authority needs to do water/sewer repairs on completed pipeline land, it must deal with 13 water lines and six sewer lines impacted by the pipeline. Sorrells told supervisors that Augusta County residents ‘didn’t ask for this. They feel helpless in trying to deal with this. They need you to be out there fighting for them.'”

1-26-17 The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald. Local landowners join forces to stop pipeline. “A local group of landowners and concerned citizens say they want to do all they can to stop the efforts of Dominion Power and its partners who wants to construct a multi-state natural gas pipeline that will pass through portions of Halifax and Northampton counties. Yesterday (Wednesday), the Concerned Stewards of Halifax County (CSHC) announced that they have become a chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL)…. The Halifax County group is led by its president, Valerie Williams, a landowner directly affected by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). She expressed her optimism in becoming a chapter of the Defense League. ‘They give us leverage, training, expertise, and much needed resources to help us in our local campaign to stop the ACP.’ Williams said there are many in Halifax and Northampton counties who are a part of that resistance. She added that her group is very concerned about the potential leaks, explosions, and other environmental harms that the ACP presents. One of the greatest concerns, she said, is surrendering private property against their will through the eminent domain process. Williams described the process as ‘predatory exploitation,’ saying, ‘The seizure of homes and farms by the pipeline industry under the deceitful use of eminent domain is indeed a form of predatory violence against both natural and human communities. Property means that you own something. We should decide how we use it, how to transfer it, what we do with it and who we exclude from it, like pipelines.’… BREDL community organizer Pastor Cary Rodgers said that CSHC is one of five BREDL chapters that are organized to stop the pipeline along its route in North Carolina, with two more in Virginia. BREDL is a statewide community-based, non-profit environmental organization with chapters and projects in six states. They focus on earth stewardship, environmental democracy, social justice, and community empowerment. ‘No pipeline project has the right of eminent domain until they have been issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity,’ Rodgers stressed. ‘The ACP has not yet received it and is still in the application phase.’ On Jan. 24, BREDL along with Concerned Stewards of Halifax County filed a legal motion with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rescind the ACP’s recent Draft Environmental Impact Statement.”

1-26-17 Farmville Herald. Groups ask FERC to rescind statement. “Buckingham-based Concern for the New Generation (CNG), along with other groups opposed to the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project, have filed a joint motion to rescind the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), issued in late December. ‘The need for this action became clear after Dominion and its partners … in the (ACP) added thousands of pages of additional information obviously prepared before the DEIS was issued, on Jan 10,’ opponents said in a joint press release. ‘The motion also requests that the FERC ‘hold the public comment period in abeyance’ until the supplemental DEIS is issued.’… FERC, in the DEIS, concluded in December the ACP’s impact would be ‘less than significant.’ County supervisors in Buckingham recently voted to allow a special use permit to allow the compressor station to be constructed along Route 56 between Shelton Store and Union Hill roads. Speakers in opposition greatly outweighed those in favor of the permit in public hearings before planners and the board of supervisors. According to the motion, there are ‘significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action of its impacts … At the same time, the present public comment period should be placed in abeyance until a new or supplemental DEIS is issued.'”

1-24-17 Independent. Trump signs order to speed up review of infrastructure projects. “Donald Trump has signed five new executive orders – including one to expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects. The order directed that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he called ‘the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible’ process.”

1-24-17 UTNE reader. In the Pipeline’s Path. “Bill and Lynn Limpert searched for years for a place to retire in the country. In April 2009, the couple from Frederick County, Maryland, finally settled on a small montane property near the village of Bolar in Virginia’s Bath County. Mountainous, thickly forested, with a population of just over 4,600, Bath County borders West Virginia in the Allegheny Mountains…. ‘We live in the pipeline’s ‘blast zone,’ about 675 feet from the ACP itself,’ Bill Limpert told me as we relaxed on his front porch in the afternoon sun, gazing northward over miles of gently undulating forest, the only sounds a slight breeze through the oaks and occasional birdsong. Though they still seem stunned by how the pipeline could disrupt their quiet life, the Limperts aren’t taking the news lying down. ‘We first learned about the [pipeline] coming through our property on February 12 of this year,’ Bill Limpert said. ‘Since then I have put in an average of four hours a day working to stop it. That’s about 600 hours so far. I’ve never been so angry or so stressed for so long. Some nights I’m getting up in the middle of the night to work on stopping the pipeline.’… Virginia’s Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, who was elected in 2013 on a platform that included strong environmental protections, too, voiced his strong support for the company’s proposed pipeline in a September 2014 press conference announcing the project. His enthusiasm for this gargantuan project, which he described as a ‘game changer’ that would bring ‘economic growth in all parts of the Commonwealth,’ reflected only the vaguest understanding of what the pipeline would entail for his constituents…. Building the pipeline would necessitate a 125-foot-wide cleared construction right-of-way, a 75-foot cleared permanent right-of-way, and access roads that accommodate heavy construction equipment, all gouged through a rolling rural landscape of farms and woodlands with minimal transportation infrastructure. The pipeline would cross the popular Appalachian Trail, and cut through a 13-mile stretch of the mighty George Washington National Forest (GWNF)…. Then there are threats to public health and safety that the ACP would create. Funneling explosive and highly flammable gas at something like 1.5 billion cubic feet per day through the farms of the Shenandoah Valley has set off alarms among even the most reserved of local residents. Karst formations—ancient fragmented limestone with networks of cracks, voids, and channels—underlie the entire geography of this region. Only a small percentage of the region’s abundant caves have been comprehensively mapped. Sinkholes, unpredictable and sudden collapses of the top portion of a hidden cave, are regular occurrences here; deep sinkholes closed down Interstate 81 in both 2011 and 2015…. Landowners along the pipeline route have also taken a stance by rejecting Dominion’s notice to survey their land. In 2015, Dominion sued 27 such property owners in Virginia. Protesters have targeted Dominion’s Richmond headquarters, in one instance blocking an intersection near the company’s offices. And in June, more than 60 groups and community leaders signed an open letter to McAuliffe, asking that he stop supporting fossil fuel projects that hurt residents as well as the climate, and that he ‘reconsider his blanket support for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.'”

1-24-17 WMRA. Environmentalists Decry Preliminary Approval of Pipeline. “On December 30, FERC finally released a long-awaited draft – meaning, it’s not the final version – that details potential environmental impacts of the 600 mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The conclusion? The pipeline would have ‘temporary and permanent…adverse effects’ on the environment. But those effects can be ‘reduced to less-than-significant levels’ if the pipeline builders take certain steps and follow recommendations from federal regulators. And that analysis doesn’t cut it for environmental groups, including the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices. Nancy Sorrells is co-chair of the Augusta County Alliance. NANCY SORRELLS: They’re in the business of rubber-stamping pipeline projects and we’ve got to make sure that trend stops. The draft acknowledges several major environmental concerns: The pipeline could induce sinkholes. It could alter springs. It could impact the flow and quality of groundwater. It could increase the likelihood of landslides over steep terrain. LARA MACK: I feel like in this DEIS in particular, they’re just saying, ‘Well, we trust that the project builders are going to take the proper precautions and do the proper mitigation.’ And that’s where they leave it. Lara Mack is an organizer for Appalachian Voices. MACK: Whereas what FERC should be doing is articulating what mitigations are absolutely necessary and whether the pipeline is even worth it, considering how extremely it’s going to impact the environment and communities, and it just doesn’t articulate that. And that, for environmentalist groups, is the primary flaw with the draft – it doesn’t address the need for the pipeline in the first place. SORRELLS: It’s kind of a cart before the horse kind of thing. You don’t build a project then create a need. FERC’s policy of not looking at need first and not looking at it in-depth has created an overbuilding of pipelines throughout the whole country and we’re just the poster child for that.”

1-19-17 WHSV. Atlantic Coast Pipeline wins legal battle with Nelson County landowners. “The controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline has won its latest legal battle with landowners along its proposed path. Snapshot from video recorded earlier in 2016 of a meeting between pipeline advocates and protesters to discuss the planned route. The News & Advance in Lynchburg reports that a judge on Tuesday overruled a challenge to block land surveyors in Nelson County. That means the matter will proceed to a routine court hearing in February to review the surveyors’ right to enter 35 properties. The landowners had claimed that Dominion Resources failed to properly comply with a state statute requiring notice. But the judge disagreed.”

1-18-17 Triad City Beat. It Might Just Work: Blocking the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. “If constructed, the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline — transmitting highly pressurized natural gas (about 75 percent methane) — would run approximately 600 miles through West Virginia, Virginia and eight counties in eastern North Carolina. Methane is not only a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide; it’s explosive, too. Poorly maintained lines can scorch acres of land and endanger lives, as seen in last year’s pipeline explosion in Westmoreland County, Pa. Another natural gas pipeline threatens not only further environmental exploitation, but human exploitation as well. Running through some of our state’s poorest counties, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would endanger the ownership, function and value of agricultural and ancestral land, not to mention the risk of sinkholes, water contamination and the explosive potential of methane in proximity to homes and schools. Though job creation is an important consideration — not to mention highly successful propaganda — a report commissioned by Dominion Resources, a leading company in the pipeline proposal, estimates only 18 permanent jobs in North Carolina once construction is complete. Development of the pipeline would discourage the region’s pursuit of renewable sources of energy that would reduce the threat of climate change and could quickly create jobs in solar, wind, tidal and other energy futures…. Protests, prayer walks and other forms of resistance should continue to happen as long as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline remains a threat. Research, fund and join these efforts. Explain that human rights and environmental rights are inseparable issues, exploited jointly for deliberate, ruinous gain. We can build on the successes at Standing Rock.”

1-15-17 The Roanoke Times (opinion). Environmental review is flawed. “The recent Roanoke Times article (“State, feds call pipeline DEIS incomplete,” Dec. 24 news story) regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Mountain Valley Pipeline revealed the extreme concerns of thousands of residents and multiple state and federal agencies about incomplete, insufficient and missing information in this DEIS. Having spent the past two-plus years researching Draft Environmental Impact Statements as part of my battle against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, it’s become increasingly clear that a handful of companies are subcontracted to submit reports to the FERC on behalf of companies like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline. The language of these reports is not simply similar, but rather identical, notwithstanding references to specific sites. After many months of review of these resource reports, further questions sent to the applicant by the FERC and answers submitted; the FERC begins a process of ‘cutting and pasting’ language from these submissions, and creates the DEIS. In every single report I’ve reviewed, the FERC concludes ‘no significant environmental impacts’ except to ‘forested lands.’ They do not mention that people live on these ‘forested lands’ or detail the damages. They simply state that such damages can be minimized or mitigated. The mitigation is largely a two-sentence statement that boils down to a lofty promise that the company will use ‘best practices’ during construction. During the period that the FERC submits questions to the applicants, the applicants stall on critical information and give future dates on release of reports. And the FERC basically pushes it all forward to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, as quoted by the FERC in this article. Simple internet searches on pipeline construction news reveals that ‘best practices’ are tossed in the waste can as soon as the first bulldozer is dropped from its trailer.

1-17-17 The Farmville Herald (opinion). Pipeline document ‘violates the public’s trust’. “As an Atlantic Coast Pipeline project opponent, I must point out some critically shoddy work in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Atlantic Coast Pipeline Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) analysis. In a Farmville Herald article, titled ‘FERC: Pipeline environmental impact would be ‘less than significant,’’ published on Dec. 30, it was noted that FERC’s DEIS states that the proposed pipeline would be located four miles from Yogaville, the Buckingham County yoga community and Integral Yoga training center where I reside and work, and none of the serious concerns about the ACP voiced by my community to FERC to date were considered relevant or serious. Even Dominion’s ACP team confirmed that the DEIS statement that the ACP would be four miles from Yogaville is false…. Our concerns over the threat of gas leaking, potential explosion, fire, evacuation, emergency response, medical treatment, impact of construction traffic and noise and impact to property values certainly applies. FERC, with its inaccuracy of exact distance, cannot use their erroneous data to simply brush aside our concerns. Additionally, it is improper and superficial to put forward this pipeline builder’s plan for a hazardous high-pressure pipeline, which, once certified by FERC, allows the builder to force its way on land against any landowner’s right to private property without a full and complete determination of necessity. This full needs analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has not been done and accepting the subscriptions to the pipeline by the pipeline builder’s own subsidiaries is not evidence enough to allow forced land acquisition by eminent domain, which lies at the heart of this unjust and inadequate report and process. A complete needs analysis has been completed in the Synapse Report and points to the lack of need for the ACP to supply regions that are already subscribed to existing pipelines that supply more than enough gas for now and into the future. The already existing pipelines have been paid for and the cost of their gas would remain substantially less for citizen ratepayers, who are forced to pay higher rates for the construction and maintenance of the unnecessary and hazardous ACP.”

1-17-17 Nelson County Times. Atlantic Coast Pipeline surveying suit will move forward after ruling on revised notices. “A Nelson County judge overruled a motion Tuesday from 35 Nelson County landowners seeking to dismiss a surveying lawsuit from Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC. The landowners’ motion was on the grounds an amended notice of intent to enter property to survey for the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline was legally insufficient. At a hearing Tuesday, Judge Michael Garrett disagreed. In his ruling, Garrett said the notices now are legally sufficient, and the revised notices issued to landowners now comply with a Virginia state statute outlining the requirements for a natural gas company to enter properties for surveying. The case will move on as previously scheduled. An evidentiary hearing in the surveying case is set for Feb. 6 in Nelson County Circuit Court…. During the hearing Tuesday, four attorneys representing the 35 landowners argued ‘the facts … are changing’ and argued ACP is ‘playing games’ with landowners. The attorneys argued ACP’s new notices, which have been amended for the second time, bring up new requests and new dates for surveying. Holzheimer argued the amended notices instead just give more detail on required surveying activity. The landowners’ attorneys also argued the notices don’t comply with the Virginia statute because they do not set ‘the’ day ACP intends to enter, rather offering ‘dates.’ Garrett, however, said ACP complied with his May ruling, and the notices offer a date when ACP intends to begin different types of surveys, thereby complying with the statute. ‘Until you get on the property, you don’t know how long it’s going to take,’ Garrett said. Lorri Stone and Stuart Allen, whose property in Shipman off Virginia 6 would be affected by the pipeline, are among the defendants named in the lawsuit. Stone said after the hearing they were troubled by Garrett’s ruling. ‘Obviously, we’re disappointed. The more we can push and delay the happier we are. … It is what it is, so I guess we’ll see them on our land in February,’ Stone said. ‘… I think we fundamentally believe that if you have property that you own, it’s inviolate other than if there’s a fire or there’s an emergency, you should need to give permission to come onto your property.'”

1-15-17 State Impact. Lancaster County pipeline opponents prepare for encampments. “About 200 people gathered in southern Lancaster County Sunday and ceremonially burned the final environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. In the document, federal regulators had concluded the project would not create significant environmental harm. Anti-pipeline activists in Lancaster County are preparing to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to block a proposed natural gas transmission line. The group Lancaster Against Pipelines is spearheading the effort. Activists have built two wooden structures near Conestoga, which they intend to occupy if and when crews begin work on the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. Williams, the Oklahoma-based company behind the project, expects to receive final approval from federal regulators within weeks. The pipeline recently cleared a major regulatory hurdle, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its final environmental impact statement (EIS), and found the pipeline would not create significant environmental harm. About 200 people attended an event Sunday afternoon where they ceremonially ripped up the EIS and threw it into a bonfire. Pipeline activist Tim Spiese views the entire environmental impact statement as part of a larger process that’s rigged in favor of natural gas companies. ‘It’s so flawed,’ he says. ‘The EPA said there were problems. The Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania said there were problems. All of us who live along the line said there were problems.'”

1-15-17 The Virginian-Pilot (opinion). How to find a billion dollars without raising taxes. “The Commonwealth of Virginia once again finds itself in a budget crunch. Not coincidentally, job creation has stalled. Wouldn’t it be great if the state could collect a billion dollars over five years and use it to stimulate a growing sector of the economy that can employ thousands of new workers? And as a result, lower the state’s carbon footprint and create savings for everyone who uses energy for electricity, heating and cooling? And do it all without imposing new taxes? Turns out, it would not be hard to do. The General Assembly simply needs to repeal a legislative provision passed in 2015 that allows our electric utilities to keep an estimated $1 billion in excess revenue. Instead, the money would be redirected to pay for energy efficiency, renewable energy and building-weatherization projects…. Projects that reduce energy consumption don’t just save dollars for the people who undertake the projects. Lowering consumption means utilities don’t have to build new generating plants, which are paid for through riders that raise electricity bills for everyone. Virginia can tap into these opportunities simply by reversing a boondoggle that Dominion Virginia Power pushed through two years ago: the infamous “rate freeze” provision of Senate Bill 1349…. SB1349 was an unprecedented abrogation of the SCC’s authority to set rates and regulate the profits of public utilities in Virginia. But there is no reason why it can’t be undone, and the utilities’ ill-gotten gains put to a better use. In this case, it is a use that could truly lower customers’ bills while also stimulating the Virginia economy.”

1-12-17 NBC12. Bill exempts some fracking chemicals from records requests. “A bill advancing in the Virginia Legislature would exempt certain chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing from disclosure in response to a public records request. Del. Roxann Robinson’s bill would exempt information about chemicals deemed a trade secret from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Robinson, a Republican, introduced a similar measure last year. She says it’s necessary to protect the oil and gas industry and its closely held trade secrets. But opponents say the bill could hinder first responders in an emergency and keep landowners in the dark about pollutants that might be affecting their groundwater.”

1-12-17 Richmond Times-Dispatch. Pipeline company files revised request to cross 10 conservation easements. “The Atlantic Coast Pipeline has revised its requests to cross 10 properties protected by state conservation easements in western Virginia, setting up a potentially precedent-setting decision by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation early next month. The revised applications would reduce the direct impact on lands under conservation easement by 13 acres under a waiver provision. It allows the foundation to accept easements on land of greater value in exchange for allowing encroachments on existing easements granted by landowners to protect properties with high scenic and ecological value. Brett Glymph, executive director of the foundation, said the requirements of the conversion process “ensure that the public’s interest in our easements remains fully protected.” But he said it would be up to the organization’s board of directors to decide at its meeting on Feb. 9 whether the pipeline’s proposals ‘satisfy the requirements of the law.’… But opponents of the pipeline said the proposed conversion of the easements would violate state law and potentially cripple the program for protecting highly scenic, environmentally valuable properties. ‘The risk here for the easement program is significant,’ warned Greg Buppert, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. ‘If the VOF says yes, they undermine the critical trust between the foundation and the owner of the easement.’ Under the proposals, the pipeline would permanently affect 55 acres of the 4,500 acres under easement on the 10 properties in Bath, Highland, Augusta, and Nelson counties, rather than the 68 acres that would have been affected under the original applications filed last May, Ruby said. In return, the company has offered to place easements on an 1,100-acre farm in Highland and 85 acres along the Rockfish River in Nelson…. Buppert said the board should reject the proposed applications because they would violate Section 1074 of the Open Space Land Act. It allows for easement conversions or diversions only if they meet a series of conditions, including showing that the conversions are ‘essential to the orderly development and growth of the locality’ and in accordance with local comprehensive plans. ‘There’s simply no way for Dominion to argue that this is essential to those localities,’ he said.

1-12-17 The Farmville Herald (opinion). The board that ruined Buckingham. “On Jan. 5, the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors showed its lack of concern for the health and safety of its citizens, preserving the flavor and history of the area or honoring the property of landowners. They ignored scientific research, national trends and the opinions of their constituents. The board voted 5-0-2 to approve a special use permit for a 53,000-plus horsepower compressor station for Dominion Power’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, to go in an area zoned for agricultural use in the historic African-American Union Hill area. Ninety-five people signed up to speak at Thursday’s hearing. After five hours of testimonies, the board asked if anyone had ‘anything different’ to offer. Only a small handful of people voiced support for the compressor station, citing jobs and need for energy. Those opposing cited research and scientific fact that compressor stations create noise pollution, release high levels of toxic chemicals, cause negative health effects and that pipelines leak, corrode and/or explode. Many pointed out that few permanent jobs would be created by construction of the station. Others cited research proving fossil fuels contribute to global warming and that renewable energy would be a safer, more long-term solution for energy needs. Several groups cited research proving existing pipelines are sufficient for present and future gas transport, making the compressor station unnecessary. In response to several speakers’ observations that the vast majority of speakers opposed the issue, one board member held up a handful of papers, noting the support of other constituents. If the board truly represented public consensus, they would have also noted a recent Farmville Herald poll that showed overwhelming opposition. And they would have listened Thursday night.”

1-7-17 Richmond Times-Dispatch (opinion). The Atlantic Coast Pipeline gets a green light, and red herrings. “A federal agency is giving a green light to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — and that has environmental groups seeing red. But whether by accident or design, they are muddying the issue. A few days ago the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, released a draft of its environmental impact statement for the ACP. It’s long and detailed and covers a lot of ground, from the angle of slopes over which the pipeline would be built to its effect on groundwater, vegetation and wildlife, and public land and recreation. The bottom line: While the pipeline would do some damage, it’s nothing that can’t be reduced or fixed to ‘less-than-significant’ levels. Environmental groups and activists opposed to the pipeline are furious. Naturally, they hoped FERC would throw up a major roadblock to the ACP. It didn’t…. Kirk Bowers, a pipeline coordinator for the Sierra Club, raises a more relevant objection when he notes that the review does not provide engineering data about the stability of steep slopes and the potential for landslides or whether ‘the pipeline is going to slide down the hill . . . and blow up.’ That’s true, although FERC does examine the issue in narrative form in section 4.1.4.2, which notes that the pipeline route does include multiple sections of very steep terrain — steep enough that some construction equipment will have to be tethered to other equipment at the top of some hills to keep from tumbling down…. Opponents of the pipeline raise other objections as well — such as the property rights of landowners affected by eminent domain and its effect on rural communities.”

1-6-17 WMRA. Buckingham Approves Pipeline Component, Against Opposition. “The vote approved a special use permit for Dominion Power, allowing it to build and maintain a station on 68 acres in Buckingham that would compress natural gas as it flows through the proposed pipeline from the fracking fields of West Virginia to utility customers in North Carolina. The vote came on the heels of a lengthy 4-hour public hearing. More than 150 people packed into Thursday’s meeting, with 95 of them signing up to speak. The majority were opposed to the compressor station and the pipeline, citing health and environmental concerns. Ella Rose moved to Buckingham from Nelson County five years ago. Her home is the closest to the proposed compressor station. ‘Our lives should not be sacrificed. Our lives count and are dependent on you to make a decision that favors life and not financial interests. Most especially Dominion’s financial interest. Thank you.’ The compressor station is expected to bring the county nearly $9 million in tax revenue over the first eight years.

1-6-17 The Daily Progress. Buckingham approves compressor station for Dominion pipeline over opposition from residents. “After a five-hour public hearing Thursday night, the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a controversial compressor station, part of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline project spearheaded by Dominion, over the objections of dozens of opponents. ‘In all the board has been part of a full and wide discussion of this matter,’ said Supervisor Donald E. Bryan, who added that the board had been grappling with the compressor station proposal for about two years and said he had consulted other counties with compressor stations and found no evidence of detrimental health or noise effects…. Annie Parr, born and raised in Buckingham, where her family has owned hundreds of acres of land for generations, was incensed by the vote. ‘Shame on every one of you,’ she told the supervisors at the end of the hearing, during which 95 speakers signed up and the board’s 141-capacity chambers were packed with pipeline and compressor station opponents from Buckingham and elsewhere in Virginia…. Irene Leech, a 58-year-old cattle farmer, said the proposed pipeline would bisect land that has been in her family for 100 years. ‘Our land is our heritage,’ she said. ‘It’s not a commodity I could sell to take care of myself. … I can’t imagine having to put my head down every night in that blast zone.’ Most of the 95 people who signed up to speak, which included members of the Friends of Buckingham community group and the Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville, a nearby spiritual community that opposes the pipeline and compressor station, implored the board to deny the permit. ‘Mitigation means that there is something wrong stirring in our spirits that we are worried about,’ said Dhyani Simonini, a retired teacher.”

1-6-17 Richmond Times-Dispatch. Opponents fail to sway Buckingham supervisors on controversial pipeline compressor station. “A controversial compressor station needed for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline project won quick approval from the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors after dozens of opponents implored the board to vote no during a five-hour public hearing Thursday night. ‘In all, the board has been part of a full and wide discussion of this matter,’ said Supervisor Donald E. Bryan, who added that the board had been grappling with the compressor station proposal for about two years and said he had consulted other counties with compressor stations and found no evidence of detrimental health or noise effects. Two supervisors abstained, one because he works for Dominion Resources, which is spearheading the proposed pipeline, and the other because he has interest in land ‘pertaining to the pipeline.’ Annie Parr, born and raised in Buckingham, where her family has owned hundreds of acres of land for generations, was incensed by the vote. ‘Shame on every one of you,’ she told the supervisors at the end of the hearing, during which 95 speakers signed up and the board’s 141-person-capacity chambers were packed with pipeline and compressor station opponents from Buckingham and elsewhere in Virginia…. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality must still approve an air permit for the station. Irene Leech, 58, who raises cattle on land in Buckingham that has been in her family for about 100 years, said the proposed pipeline would bisect her property. ‘Our land is our heritage,’ she said. ‘It’s not a commodity I could sell to take care of myself.”

1-5-17 Richmond Times-Dispatch. Buckingham approves compressor station for Dominion pipeline over opposition from residents. “After a five-hour public hearing Thursday night, the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a controversial compressor station, part of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline project spearheaded by Dominion, over the objections of dozens of opponents. ‘In all the board has been part of a full and wide discussion of this matter,’ said Supervisor Donald E. Bryan, who added that the board had been grappling with the compressor station proposal for about two years and said he had consulted other counties with compressor stations and found no evidence of detrimental health or noise effects. Two supervisors abstained, one because he works for Dominion and the other because he has interest in land ‘pertaining to the pipeline.’ Annie Parr, born and raised in Buckingham, where her family has owned hundreds of acres of land for generations, was incensed by the vote. ‘Shame on every one of you,’ she told the supervisors at the end of the hearing, during which 95 speakers signed up and the board’s 141-capacity chambers were packed with pipeline and compressor station opponents from Buckingham and elsewhere in Virginia.”

1-4-17 The Daily Progress. Pipeline company files revised request to cross 10 conservation easements. “The Atlantic Coast Pipeline has revised its requests to cross 10 properties protected by state conservation easements in western Virginia, setting up a potentially precedent-setting decision by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation early next month. The revised applications would reduce the direct impact on lands under conservation easement by 13 acres under a waiver provision. It allows the foundation to accept easements on land of greater value in exchange for allowing encroachments on existing easements granted by landowners to protect properties with high scenic and ecological value. Brett Glymph, executive director of the foundation, said the requirements of the conversion process ‘ensure that the public’s interest in our easements remains fully protected.’ But he said it would be up to the organization’s board of directors to decide at its meeting on Feb. 9 whether the pipeline’s proposals ‘satisfy the requirements of the law.’… But opponents of the pipeline said the proposed conversion of the easements would violate state law and potentially cripple the program for protecting highly scenic, environmentally valuable properties. ‘The risk here for the easement program is significant,’ warned Greg Buppert, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. ‘If the VOF says yes, they undermine the critical trust between the foundation and the owner of the easement.’ Under the proposals, the pipeline would permanently affect 55 acres of the 4,500 acres under easement on the 10 properties in Bath, Highland, Augusta and Nelson counties, rather than the 68 acres that would have been affected under the original applications filed last May, Ruby said. In return, the company has offered to place easements on an 1,100-acre farm in Highland and 85 acres along the Rockfish River in Nelson.”

1-3-17 The Register-Herald. Federal regulators weigh in on proposed national gas pipeline. “A federal agency’s report has given a proposed natural gas pipeline to run partly through parts of West Virginia the green light. Late last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a long-anticipated draft environmental impact statement on the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which could start in central West Virginia, travel through Virginia and end in North Carolina. The report says changes proposed for the project significantly reduce the environmental impacts. The report states the project could have ‘some adverse and significant environmental impacts.’ However, the report concludes, with mitigation offered by FERC the impacts would be reduced ‘to less-than-significant levels.’ If Dominion Energy and DTI, the builders of the pipeline, implement the suggestions, ‘avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures as well as their adherence to our recommendations to further avoid, minimize, and mitigate these impacts, the majority of project effects, with the exception of impacts on forest vegetation, would be reduced to less-than-significant levels,’ the report reads. Immediately after the report’s release, swift denouncement came from environmentalists and praise from the energy sector…. The groups said FERC failed to ‘honestly assess’ certain impacts and disregarded evidence that the project would lock consumers into decades more reliance on dirty fossil fuels. Additionally, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the groups contend, would dump fracked gas across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, harming communities, water resources, private property, historic sites, and iconic public treasures including the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail. ‘This pipeline would add insult to injury in West Virginia, where we are already dealing with water and health impacts due to fracking. It would lock us into decades more fossil fuel pollution when we should be moving to renewable energy. This pipeline would continue the harm done by extractive industry to the most vulnerable of us — low-income people, the elderly, the disenfranchised,’ said April Pierson-Keating with Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance.”