Press Release | March 28, 2018

FERC Denies Dominion Request to Keep Cutting Trees

ACP developers’ attempts to evade environmental regulations defeated

Charlottesville, VA—Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent a strong message and denied Dominion and Atlantic Coast Pipeline developers’ request to extend their tree-cutting window to May 15, 2018.

“FERC made the right decision today by holding ACP developers to their promise to protect migratory birds. Tree-cutting restrictions are a critical part of the measures FERC required to minimize the harmful effects of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” said Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney, Greg Buppert. “Dominion’s last-minute request to renege on its commitments to environmental protection is another example of the company’s attempt to flex its political muscle for quick rubber-stamp approvals.”

SELC, on behalf of its clients, Shenandoah Valley Network, Highlanders For Responsible Development, Virginia Wilderness Committee, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Cowpasture River Preservation Association, Friends Of Buckingham, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, Sound Rivers, Winyah Rivers Foundation, and with partners at Appalachian Mountain Advocates, filed an objection to Dominion’s tree-cutting extension request at the commission on March 17, 2018.

SELC is still awaiting a decision from FERC on a request for a rehearing on the commission’s approval of the entire project.

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For more than 30 years, the Southern Environmental Law Center has used the power of the law to champion the environment of the Southeast. With over 70 attorneys and nine offices across the region, SELC is widely recognized as the Southeast’s foremost environmental organization and regional leader. SELC works on a full range of environmental issues to protect our natural resources and the health and well-being of all the people in our region. www.SouthernEnvironment.org

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The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.

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