The planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline, already more than a year behind schedule, could face further delays as North Carolina officials once again seek additional information on the project’s potential impacts to the communities the pipeline will traverse.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality on Wednesday sent the pipeline’s developers a fourth round of questions about the economic benefits and environmental risks of the project. The unusual repeat request gives pipeline officials 30 days to respond and gives the agency 60 days to review their response.

The energy consortium building the pipeline includes Charlotte-based Duke Energy and Dominion Energy in Richmond, Va. The proposed 600-mile pipeline would cross West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina to bring natural gas from northern fracking operations to fuel Duke’s power plants in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Duke said the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will submit a responses in less than 30 days. “We’re working on a response to the NC DEQ’s data request and will submit it in short order,” Duke said in a statement. “We don’t expect an impact to the overall project schedule.”

Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Bridget Munger said the answers could spark further inquiries.

“It really will depend on whether they provide the information requested, and once staff has reviewed it, what additional questions they will have,” Munger said of the timeline.

In North Carolina, the project requires an air quality permit to operate a compressor station in Northampton County that will help push the gas through the pipeline. The air quality permit is expected to be issued Dec. 15.

It also requires a water quality permit to allow the underground pipeline to cross several hundred streams, creeks and other bodies of water. This permit hinges on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s responses to the fourth set of questions. The agency is asking for information previously requested but not adequately answered by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The Department of Environmental Quality is looking for details on economic benefits to specific areas along the pipeline’s route, as opposed to generalizations about economic benefits. The agency wants a forecast of future economic conditions with the pipeline and without the pipeline, along with an analysis of the two forecasts, and an explanation of the logic on which the analysis is based.

The agency also wants additional information on the pipeline’s end point, which was originally proposed in Robeson County. Atlantic Coast Pipeline officials later suggested that the pipeline would be extended to South Carolina at some point.

The pipeline review has generated about 15,000 public comments to the Department of Environmental Quality. Additionally, nearly 5,000 public comments missed the agency’s deadline, arriving after the public comment period closed, Munger said.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would bring natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to supply Duke’s natural-gas-fired power plants. The project has received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and is awaiting state permits. More than 40 organizations have appealed the federal permit, saying the project is not necessary and poses environmental risks.

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article187153208.html

Kirk A Bowers, PE
Virginia Chapter, Sierra Club
Pipelines Program Coordinator
106 George Rogers Road
Charlottesville, VA 22911
Home (434) 296 8673
Cell (434) 249 1439

Sierra Club Flotilla Will Show How Atlantic Coast Pipeline Will Affect NC Waterways

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Contact:
Doug Jackson (media), (202) 495-3045, (252) 432-9716 or doug.jackson@sierraclub.org

Caroline Hansley (on-site logistics), (828)-808-6151 or
caroline.hansley@sierraclub.org

SPRING HOPE, N.C. — North Carolinians and the Sierra Club are organizing a canoe and kayak trip down the Tar River to show residents and media the ways in which Duke Energy’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline would negatively affect the state’s waterways. The pipeline would carry fracked gas from West Virginia through eight North Carolina Counties, crossing over 560 creeks, rivers, and wetlands before stopping in Robeson County. Similar pipelines, like the Rover in Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia, have caused one disaster after another, including drilling fluid spills and water violations. Over 50 people are expected to form a flotilla less than 1,000 feet from where survey marks show the pipeline will cross the river and participants will raise a banner, red signs and their paddles to take a photo.

Speakers will include Tar-Pamlico Riverkeeper Heather Deck and Marvin Winstead, a local farmer fighting Duke Energy’s expected seizure of his property. Following the event, participants will gather at Chico’s Restaurant in Rocky Mount to talk about the proposed pipeline and its expected effects on waterways.

What: Kayak and canoe flotilla showing how the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline endangers the Tar River and other North Carolina waterways.

When: TODAY, Saturday, August 5th. 9:00 a.m. put-in, expect to arrive at the pipeline crossing point shortly after 9:00a.m. and expected to arrive at Chico’s Mexican Restaurant at 12:30p.m.

Where: Put-in on the Tar River at Old Bailey Highway, Spring Hope, NC. Photo opportunity of the protest on the water less than 1,000 feet from the put-in on the Old Bailey Highway Bridge and from the bridge itself (coordinates: 35.8651984, -78.0098886). Post-paddle conversation at Chico’s Mexican Restaurant, 1701 Sunset Ave, Rocky Mount, NC.

Who: Over 50 local landowners and outdoor enthusiasts, Sierra Club Organizer Caroline Hansley, Tar-Pamlico Riverkeeper Heather Deck and local farmer Marvin Winstead.

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North Carolinians stand strong against fracked gas pipeline!

About 80 people filled a public hearing in rural Northampton County last week to say a forceful NO to building a compressor station in their community for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Duke Energy and Dominion Resources have asked for permission to build the station, a critical component of the pipeline infrastructure, on the North Carolina-Virginia border, in an area where more than 79 percent of the population is African-American.

About 30 people signed up to speak about the proposed compressor station, with opponents outnumbering supporters two to one. (The crowd included Barbara Exum of Wilson County No Pipeline.)

The Sierra Club helped anti-pipeline partners with turnout by sending postcards and making phone calls to people who live in the evacuation and blast zones.

Numerous speakers referred to a recent study from the NAACP and the Clean Air Task Force, Fumes Across the Fenceline , that concludes the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would have a greater negative impact on communities of color. You can read more about the study in an article from the News & Observer of Raleigh.

If you’d like to help in the fight against the ACP, you’re welcome to get in touch with Sierra Club organizer Caroline Hansley, caroline.hansley@sierraclub.org.