Risky and Unnecessary Natural Gas Pipelines Threaten Our Region
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Legal challenges filed targeting state and federal Atlantic Coast Pipeline approvals
SELC and Appalachian Mountain Advocates, on behalf of a coalition of community and conservation groups, filed a legal challenge to the Virginia State Water Control Board’s approval of a water quality certification for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline....
Legality questionable in Virginia State Water Control Board’s pipeline decision
Today the Virginia State Water Control Board issued a 4-3 vote to conditionally approve the Clean Water Act permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. This decision was made hastily and without providing any clarity to new language presented by the...
Local and citizen groups object to N.C. DEQ’s flawed permit for $5.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Update (12/7): This week North Carolina Division of Air Quality withheld, for the time being, its approval for the Northampton compressor station and requested more information from developers. The agency’s questions reflect criticisms outlined in...
Forest Service decision on Atlantic Coast Pipeline puts National Forests at risk
SELC strongly opposes the U.S. Forest Service decision today to approve the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, a natural gas pipeline slated to cut through 600-miles of West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, including lands in the Appalachian...
Groups take legal action against FERC on Atlantic Coast Pipeline
SELC, in conjunction with a coalition of affected land owners and conservation groups, today filed a request for rehearing urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its approval of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a massive...
SELC op-ed: Construction of Atlantic Coast Pipeline will destroy lands, endanger state’s waters
Recently Senior Attorney Greg Buppert highlighted the key decisions on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline pending before the Virginia State Water Control Board in a letter published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Written with Peggy Sanner, senior attorney...
Breaking: FERC approves contested pipeline permits
Late Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline projects. Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur offered a dissenting opinion. The pipeline is slated to carry natural gas...
Dominion Energy’s contrived need for natural gas on display again
A recent recording revealed that a Dominion representative made allusions to expanding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline beyond North Carolina, into South Carolina. This latest revelation adds to mounting evidence and concern that there is no real need...
Dominion doesn’t deny preparing to charge customers $2B for pipeline construction
Virginia regulators just finished hearing three days of testimony about utilities’ long-term plans across the Commonwealth. Most notably, testimony established that Dominion Energy’s own data show construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would...
Lack of key info leads to roadblock for N.C. pipeline permit
Pipeline developers’ plans to begin construction on the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline in November were thwarted last week by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality when the agency issued a request for more information before...
Explore the stories of people in the path of the pipeline
For the Harris family, it was when Dominion Energy told them they would be bulldozing just behind their kids’ swing set, despite the parents’ objections. For Hazel Palmer, it was when she realized Dominion Energy could sue her for not letting them...
Virginia lawmakers, conservation groups call on DEQ to deny pipeline’s water certification
SELC, on behalf of more than a dozen conservation groups, is calling on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to protect the water quality of communities across the state. In comments submitted Tuesday, SELC outlined the potential dangers...
Federal court rules FERC must consider greenhouse gas emissions from pipelines
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated a 2016 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of three natural gas pipeline segments in the Southeast. Similar to the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the vast majority of the gas...
FERC confirmations raise threat of fast-tracking pipelines
The U.S. Senate confirmed Neil Chatterjee, a Senate aide to majority leader Mitch McConnell, and Robert Powelson, a Pennsylvania utility executive, for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) before adjourning for August recess last night....
SELC, Sierra Club ask N.C. officials to scrutinize utility deals claiming need for $5B ACP
SELC, on behalf of the Sierra Club, filed a motion with the North Carolina Utilities Commission urging the commission to reconsider its approval of natural gas contracts for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress,...
With ACP review, FERC shirks its responsibility to public interest
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is plowing forward by granting next steps to project developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline without considering whether a new natural gas pipeline in our region is necessary. FERC issued an Environmental...
Large coalition implores governor, state environmental agency to protect Virginia waters
SELC and more than 75 other environmental, conservation, and public advocacy groups that represent tens of thousands of Virginians have signed on to a letter urging the Commonwealth to require individual review under the Clean Water Act for wetland...
SELC requests FERC hearing as Dominion, Duke Energy look to build ACP on the backs of customers
SELC, on behalf of its clients, filed a motion asking that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hold a hearing on the legitimacy of Dominion and Duke Energy’s natural gas demand claims as a basis for building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. “If...
Pipelines threaten hundreds of waterways in Virginia
In a stunning admission yesterday, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said that it is not planning to require individual water-quality certifications for the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley natural gas pipelines. Environmental and...
Federal agency fails to assess need for pipeline and its environmental impacts
The fate of Dominion Power’s unnecessary and environmentally risky Atlantic Coast Pipeline project is now in the hands of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. The public comment period for responding to FERC’s draft Environmental...
Dominion pipeline proposal undermines Virginia’s conservation easements
The latest route Dominion is pursuing for its Atlantic Coast Pipeline would directly conflict with the terms of open-space easements the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) holds on several conservation properties across the central Appalachians. ...
FERC takes next step to advance unwanted, unneeded Atlantic Coast Pipeline
SELC, along with a coalition of dozens of concerned groups, is condemning the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s draft review of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, issued today. In claiming that the project’s numerous adverse environmental...
SELC challenges Atlantic Coast Pipeline route
Robbie Koontz pulls on a ballcap as she sits to talk. Her hair is falling out and she’s a little embarrassed. “My doctor says it is due to stress,” she said. “It is just constant. We can’t get away from it.” The stress is over Dominion Virginia...
Buppert: Experts find pipelines aren’t needed
Below is an excerpt from Senior Attorney Greg Buppert's op-ed in The Roanoke Times Sunday. The piece highlights a new report from Synapse Energy Economics showing that current natural gas infrastructure can meet regional demand at least through...
New report shows demand doesn’t justify new natural gas pipelines
Two controversial pipeline projects that would cut through a combined 850 miles of mid-Atlantic countryside are not needed to meet the region’s future energy demands, according to a report by independent energy experts that was released Monday. ...
New chance to weigh in on controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline
The public has another chance to weigh in on Dominion’s proposed—and heavily opposed—Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a massive natural gas route that would span nearly 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina. Local communities have intensely...
New pipeline route proposed by Dominion
Today Dominion announced its proposed route change for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, following the recent rejection of the prior route by the U.S. Forest Service, which has jurisdiction over the National Forests impacted by the pipeline route. ...
Forest Service rejects Atlantic Coast Pipeline route
Today, the U.S. Forest Service rejected developers’ preferred path for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline through the George Washington and Monongahela National Forests. The Forest Service letter to the developers said the pipeline is not in line with its...
Big-picture perspective needed as pipeline proposals advance
Friday energy companies filed a formal request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to build the 564-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, despite intense opposition from local communities. The pipeline is one of four projects slated...
New study questions economic benefit claims of Atlantic Coast Pipeline
The claimed economic benefits of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) are overstated, lack sufficient supporting data, and fail to account for environmental and societal costs, according to a new analysis by Synapse Energy Economics. The...
SELC testifies before Congress on the impact of gas pipelines on local communities
Today Senior Attorney Greg Buppert testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources on the significant impacts that natural gas pipelines crossing federal lands would have on the surrounding local...
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