Residual Waste is toxic brine, as with the diesel truck exhaust gases

From an Article by Michael Barrick, Appalachian Chronicle, September 18, 2022
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WESTON, W.Va. – We read in Ecclesiastes that there is a season for everything, including a time to be silent and a time to speak. By now, I had hoped to be silent. As a pensioner, I was hoping to hang out with my family, do some hiking, and to travel a bit. In short, I’m just trying to live a peaceful life. The only problem is that corruption and violence are so rampant that they can’t be ignored.

Silence in the face of violence is compliance with it. (To hear a beautiful take on that notion, listen to “Medicine” by the Americana band Rising Appalachia). So my season of silence is over.

For nearly a decade, before I tried to step back a few months ago, I had written more than 100 articles about the public health, safety and environmental dangers of fracking and related pipeline development. I’ve also written about Mountaintop Removal and efforts by environmental activists to protect the pristine Appalachian Mountains. What West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and his fossil fuel cronies have inflicted upon the people and land of West Virginia and Virginia in attempting to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is nothing short of a violent assault upon the people and land.

In building the now-abandoned Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and the MVP, energy companies EQT, Duke Energy and Dominion and their subcontractors have been ruthless, as the articles below reveal. (Note: some links within articles may no longer be valid). This collective chronicle of the gas industry’s tactics reveal deceit, threats and destruction. The MVP remains uncompleted only because of the people in its path. A coalition of individuals and groups have stalled it primarily through successful legal and regulatory challenges, not to mention dogged determination.

These articles – the first published Aug. 4 2014 – demonstrate what a roller-coaster ride of emotions and betrayal landowners and environmentals have experienced. They succeeded in shutting down the ACP and had the MVP on the ropes. Investors were nervous.

However, it appeared that all of that work against the MVP may have been undone in a behind-closed-doors deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin to get Manchin’s essential vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. That deal was supposed to streamline the permitting process for the MVP.

However, E&E News Energy Wire is reporting that may not be enough to salvage the beleaguered and long-delayed project. According to the article, a primary obstacle may be legislation announced and sponsored by West Virginia’s other Senator, Republican Shelley Moore Capito. The Republican proposal is picking up bi-partisan support. The E&E News article details how legal and regulatory challenges could still derail the MVP should the proposal pass, as it would not allow the MVP to bypass judicial review.

Though this is hopeful news, this fight is far from over. There is simply too much money changing hands. So, keep up with this story and support any effort to thwart the shady dealings of Schumer and Manchin.

These articles would not have been possible without the cooperation of my family and the subjects of the articles. They are the brave souls willing to share their stories, allowing me insight, facts and documents to support my enterprise and investigative reporting; additionally, contributions from other writers have served to enrich our reporting.

So, while it may take you a while, please read through our past articles. You will see that the fossil fuel industry hasn’t changed tactics in over a century. Only this time, instead of using Baldwin-Felt thugs to do their dirty work as they did during the West Virginia Mine Wars in the early 1920s, today’s energy executives hatch their plots on Manchin’s “Almost Heaven” yacht moored on the Potomac River.

Virginia environmental groups call for a declaration of climate emergency & protest the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Richmond (8/2/22)

From an Article by Sarah Vogelsong, Virginia Mercury, August 2, 2022

A deal between Democratic congressional leadership and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III over sweeping federal climate legislation could force the completion of Mountain Valley Pipeline, according to a one-page summary of the agreement’s provisions obtained by The Washington Post.

The final item on the summary reads: “Complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline.”

Since the surprise 11th-hour deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Manchin resurrected President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda last week, Virginia environmental groups and many landowners in the state’s southwestern region have been waiting uneasily to learn the agreement’s terms.

Numerous national news outlets reported that Manchin’s support was linked to promises by Democratic leaders to pass separate legislation smoothing the fraught federal permitting process for fossil fuel pipelines such as Mountain Valley, a 303-mile-long conduit planned to carry gas from the Marcellus shale fields of West Virginia into Virginia.

The summary released Monday, which a Manchin spokesperson confirmed Tuesday reflects the provisions the senator is seeking, offers the clearest look yet at what those promises are. For Mountain Valley, the asks are twofold: First, require federal agencies “to take all necessary actions to permit the construction and operation” of the pipeline. Second, transfer jurisdiction over legal cases concerning the pipeline from the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to the D.C. Circuit.

Lee Williams, director of Green New Deal Virginia and advocacy chair of the Richmond-area Falls of the James chapter of the Sierra Club, reacted to the proposal with dismay. Environmental groups “want everything” that’s in the federal climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, she said. “We’ve been asking for it for the last decade. Unfortunately, to get Sen. Manchin to vote for it, they literally threw Southwest Virginia under the bus.”

Exactly what Democratic leaders promised Manchin, however, remains unclear. Despite the one-page summary that has been released, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) said during a Tuesday teleconference that “there is no connection between voting on the Inflation Reduction Act and then having to vote for the Mountain Valley Pipeline or a permitting bill.” Also, “The deal was (that) in exchange for getting an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act, we will have the opportunity to debate and vote on permitting improvements, but no one’s made commitments about how they’re going to vote, and I’m certainly not going to make a commitment until I see what that bill is,” he said.

Valeria Rivadeneira, a spokesperson for Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D), said the senator would review the proposal “once the full legislative text is made available.”

Originally expected to be completed by 2018, Mountain Valley Pipeline has been hampered by staunch opposition in both Virginia and West Virginia, hundreds of environmental violations and a string of successful legal challenges in the 4th Circuit that have repeatedly stripped the project of necessary federal permits. Construction has proved especially halting along a Southwest Virginia corridor that crosses through part of the Jefferson National Forest in Giles, Craig and Montgomery counties.

This summer, with few immediate breakthroughs evident, the developers sought permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has authority over pipeline construction, to extend its deadline another four years.

With delays and costs mounting, investors have become increasingly skeptical that the pipeline will ever be completed. In a February filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, project investor NextEra Energy wrote that “continued legal and regulatory challenges have resulted in a very low probability of pipeline completion.”

The deal with Manchin could change all that. Amid news of the agreement, shares in lead pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream soared to a three-month high Tuesday.

“MVP is being recognized as a critical infrastructure project that is essential for our nation’s energy security, energy reliability, and ability to effectively transition to a lower-carbon future,” Equitrans spokesperson Natalie Cox wrote in an email.

More than 300,000 miles of natural gas pipelines exist in the U.S., she noted in a lengthy statement. “None of these existing pipelines have undergone the extensive level of environmental research, analysis and review that has been performed on the MVP project.”

The reforms to the federal energy permitting process outlined in the summary document, which would include timelines for permitting reviews and a statute of limitations for court challenges, leave Virginia environmental groups in a tight spot. Organizations that last week hailed the sudden reappearance of federal climate action are now left scrambling to decide whether they can swallow a deal that includes Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project many have spent years opposing.

“We’re not going to sit by and roll over and let Southwest Virginia be a sacrifice zone,” Williams told the Mercury Tuesday after leading a demonstration in downtown Richmond calling on Biden to declare a climate emergency, one of many organized by activists nationwide. “But we don’t want to blow up the deal. It’s a fine line.”

We don’t want to blow up the deal. It’s a fine line. Some groups have already come out in opposition.

“We firmly oppose any approach by Congress that sacrifices frontline communities as part of a political bargain,” said Jessica Sims, Virginia field coordinator for environmental and economic development nonprofit Appalachian Voices, in a statement. The group’s North Carolina field coordinator, Ridge Graham, called any legislation requiring completion of Mountain Valley “unacceptable.”

But others were reluctant to speak on the record, indicating they are still sorting out their stances in a rapidly evolving situation.

Regardless of the Manchin deal, Kaine on Tuesday emphasized the need for reforms to federal pipeline permitting, saying he thought FERC’s initial review of Mountain Valley had been “shoddy.” Also, “I view many of the controversies that are connected with the Mountain Valley Pipeline as having been sort of stoked by an inadequate federal permitting process through FERC,” he said, citing “in particular the unwillingness or inability of FERC to get information out to the public and appropriately take public comment and then take that into account in terms of deciding (a) whether a pipeline was necessary and (b) whether the proposed route was the right route.”

A spokesperson later said that Sen. Kaine believes improving permitting “is preferable to having members of Congress decide outcomes on individual energy infrastructure projects.”

Both Kaine and Warner, as well as Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, have previously proposed federal legislation to change the federal review process for proposals and clarify when eminent domain can be exercised. Those bills were crafted in response to not only Mountain Valley Pipeline but the Dominion Energy and Duke Energy-backed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would have stretched from West Virginia to North Carolina via Virginia but was canceled in July 2020.

US Clean Water Act contains many sections

From an Article by John McFerrin, WV Highlands Conservancy Voice, July 2022

States, including West Virginia, have gained more control over the issuance of permits under the federal Clean Water Act.

Under the federal and state Clean Water Acts, anybody who wants to undertake a wide variety of activities which have an impact upon water must have a permit. These include discharging water into a stream, filling a stream, or crossing a stream or a wetland. Most recently this requirement has meant that both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline have been required to have permits for pipeline construction.

These permits are issued by federal agencies. Under the law as it historically existed, even when federal agencies issue permit decisions, states still had a role. Under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act, federal agencies could not authorize projects in a state unless that state certifies (called a 401 Certification) that the project will not violate state water quality standards.

Our most recent experiences with this are the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. With those two pipelines, or any other project where federal agencies issue water permits, West Virginia could have stopped the project by refusing the 401 Certification. If it did not want to refuse the 401 Certification outright, it could have conditioned its approval on the pipeline developers taking certain steps to protect water quality.

The reason for this requirement of state certification were explained during the original debates on the federal Clean Water Act. Senator Muskie explained on the floor when what is now §401 was first proposed: “No polluter will be able to hide behind a Federal license or permit as an excuse for a violation of water quality standard[s]. No polluter will be able to make major investments in facilities under a Federal license or permit without providing assurance that the facility will comply with water quality standards. No State water pollution control agency will be confronted with a fait accompli by an industry that has built a plant without consideration of water quality requirements.”

In the spring of 2020, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule dramatically reducing the authority that states have to refuse certification or demand conditions on permits. This was in response to complaints about other states imposing too many conditions upon pipeline construction or refusing certifications altogether. For the reasons mentioned below, there were no complaints about West Virginia authorities.

Now the United States Environmental Protection Agency has changed the rule back to what it was historically. The states once again have the authority to review federal permits and certify that a project will not cause a violation of water quality standards. If a project needs conditions to protect state waters, states can demand those conditions.

Does West Virginia really care?

If recent experience is any guide, regaining this authority will not make any difference to West Virginia. Both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline had to have permits to cross streams and wetlands in West Virginia. Through the 401 Certification process, West Virginia could have prevented the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from finally approving the pipeline as well as the United States Army Corps of Engineers from approving the stream crossings, etc. that the pipeline will entail until we had assurance that West Virginia’s water would not be damaged. West Virginia had the opportunity to either stop the project entirely or, more likely, place conditions upon it that would make it less damaging to West Virginia waters.

Instead of reviewing the projects and either rejecting them or placing conditions upon them, West Virginia waived its right to do so. For the details, see the stories in the December, 2017, and January, 2018, issues of The Highlands Voice.

While the restoration of authority might make a difference in some states, it is not clear that it will make any difference in West Virginia. When the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had the authority before, it did not use it. There is nothing to indicate that having it back will make any difference. The current West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has no interest in using the right which the Clean Water Act grants it anyway.

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The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is a non-profit corporation which has been recognized as a tax exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service. Its bylaws describe its purpose:

The purposes of the Conservancy shall be to promote, encourage, and work for the conservation — including both preservation and wise use — and appreciation of the natural resources of West Virginia and the Nation, and especially of the Highlands Region of West Virginia, for the cultural, social, educational, physical, health, spiritual, and economic benefit of present and future generations of West Virginians and Americans.

Mountain Valley Pipeline can contaminate rivers & streams during construction

Just a reminder of some upcoming comment deadlines on MVP and ACP:
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Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)

The Notice of Scoping comment period for MVP’s request to bore at 180+ waterbodies, FERC Docket CP21-57, closes tomorrow, April 15th at 4:59pm.

If you want to weigh in, here are a couple options:

Public petition from App Voices, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, POWHR + CCAN

(URL to share: bit.ly/MVPscoping)

>>>. CP21-57 Talking points

>>>. Sierra Club petition

>>>. Wild Virginia Guide

>. Submit a Comment via eComment directly into the docket

>. Need help navigating the site?

______________________________

Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)

The ACP restoration plan comment period closes Friday, April 16th at 4:59pm.

>>>. Here is information from Friends of Nelson on how to weigh in

>>>. Submit a Comment via eComment directly into the docket

Thank you!
–
Jessica Sims, Virginia Field Coordinator
Appalachian Voices, 812 E. High Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902

(434) 226-0589 office
jessica@appvoices.org

ACP 42 inch coated steel pipe being barged north on the Monongahela River at Pt. Marion, Pennsylvania on 11/12/20

From an Article by Emily Brown, (Lynchburg) News & Advance, November 9, 2020

LYNCHBURG — A federal agency has put the canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline on the clock, asking officials to file specific plans by the end of 2020 for disposition of the defunct project.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week asked ACP to file a plan within 60 days on intentions for the project’s facilities and the areas for which the pipeline was set.

“In order for us to determine if additional Commission authorizations are required … we will need more detail …,” FERC’s request states.

The interstate natural gas pipeline received federal approval from FERC in 2017. In early July, facing a number of court challenges to other regulatory requirements, ACP officials canceled the project.

Nelson County was one of several localities that would have been crossed in Virginia; the project had been set to cut through 27 miles in the county. The 600-mile project was planned to cross West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Specifically, FERC asked ACP to provide a schedule — including initiation and completion dates — for disposition and restoration. FERC’s request also asks for a description of restoration activities on disturbed rights of way, as well as updates on ACP’s consultation with landowners on preferences for restoration.

Information on landowners’ preferences should include, as applicable, hopes for how to restore disturbed areas or whether to remove felled trees, FERC added.

“In the coming months, we will respond to FERC’s request and provide detailed plans for closing out the entire 600-mile project. This will include plans for disturbed areas of the right of way, installed pipe, storage yards and compressor and metering stations,” said Aaron Ruby, spokesperson for ACP partner Dominion Energy.

“Our goal is to close out the project as efficiently as possible and with minimal environmental disturbance. We will work with each landowner whose property has been disturbed to develop a plan for the right of way on their property.”

Most pre-construction activity in Nelson County took place near Wintergreen. Now near the resort, a path where trees were cut down stands as a reminder of the project that never came to be.

But that area of disturbed land, where the trees still lay, is beginning to heal, according to Wintergreen Property Owners Association Executive Director Jay Roberts. Roberts said the organization hopes trees are left there so regrowth happens naturally out of that material; bulldozing over the path that already was cleared and is beginning to heal would do more damage, he previously told the Nelson County Times.

In addition to formally filing a strategy with FERC that will deal with such issues and executing those plans, ACP officials also are working to tie up other loose ends on the canceled project.

Landowners like Wintergreen Property Owners Association signed easement agreements — sometimes resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in revenue — for use of their property for the project. Many of those agreements — most of which grant ACP perpetual rights to the land for a natural gas pipeline — remain in effect despite the project’s cancellation.

Determining what happens with those easement agreements also is on the “to-do” list for ACP as it winds down the project.

“We will also evaluate each easement agreement on a case-by-case basis in consultation with each landowner,” Ruby said.

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ACP Storage Yard at Morgantown Industrial Park

Report to Monongalia County Commission By Wallace Venable, September 21, 2020

Early this month Dr. Duane Nichols appeared at a Commission meeting to tell you about potential dangers from the degradation of the epoxy coating on the pipe stored outdoors at Morgantown Industrial Park. As he noted, the coating contains numerous carcinogenic and toxic substances that could leach or blow off stored pipes. These substances could result in negative impacts to the health and safety of residents or workers in proximity to the locations where the pipes are stored.

This brief report adds quantitative estimates to his information.

Quantities of Pipe in Storage

Ariel photos accessible through Google Maps allow some appraisal of the extent of the pipe storage at Morgantown Industrial Park. There are two pipe storage areas. Based on shadows, most, if not all, of the stacks are four pipes high.

Not all pipes are the same length, but the majority appear to be 40 feet long. The pipeline has been described as using 42 inch diameter pipe.

In the upper storage area there are approximately 5,680 lineal feet of pipe stacks, which with a 40 foot pipe length, gives approximately 227,200 square feet of pipe in the top layer. Roughly, this area contains about 6,500 pieces of pipe.

In the lower storage area there are approximately 2,690 lineal feet of pipe stacks, which with a 40 foot pipe length gives approximately 107,600 square feet of pipe in the top layer. Roughly, this area contains about 3,075 pieces of pipe.

That gives a total of about 9,600 pieces of pipe, covering an actual ground space of about 334,600 square feet. The surface area of the pipe itself exposed to the atmosphere is approximately four million square feet.

Degradation of Epoxy Coating Four Years in Storage

There is some information publicly available from 3M on typical rates of the coating’s degradation. Their estimates range from 0.375 to 1.5 thousandths of an inch per year. The degradation happens faster in higher temperatures, higher humidity, and wetter conditions. Presumably this is after underground installation. Degradation is accelerated by exposure to the sun. The top layer is directly exposed to the sun, and will have the highest degradation rate due to ultraviolet light exposure.

Quantity Estimates of Degradation Products

I have made two estimates of the amount of degradation products with which the Morgantown area will have to deal. The first is based on the area exposed directly to sun and rain, the second based on the total area of the pipe exposed to the atmosphere.

Using the area exposed directly to sun and rain and a rate of degradation of 0.0015 inches per year, we can expect to generate on the order of 42 cubic feet, or two tons, of chemical sludge per year.
Using the total area of the pipe exposed to the atmosphere and the lower rate of degradation of 0.000375 inches per year, we can expect to generate on the order of 120 cubic feet, or six tons, of chemical sludge per year.

While we cannot make a precise estimate of the total pollution being generated, a reasonable estimate is that the site is currently creating a few tons of particles per year.

Given that pipe has been stored on the site for several years, we can expect that as much as twenty tons has already been released. Even immediate removal of the pipe itself will not remove this material.

Dispersal and Disposal of Degradation Products

As Dr. Nichols told you, the primary danger to people is probably through air-borne dust breathed by employees at the Morgantown Industrial Park. Construction of the new I-79 Interchange will both increase the number of affected workers and increase dust distribution through increased traffic.

Degradation products not carried away by wind will be carried primarily to the three settlement ponds on site. There will also be other ground run-off mixing with the chemical sludge.

We have no evidence that these have been unable to contain past run-off, but they will eventually fill. Because they will be laced with chemical sludge, a plan for their eventual disposal will be needed.

Recommendation to Local County Government

The Monongalia County Commission should establish a plan to assure that the pollution from this storage area is professionally monitored.

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Dr. Wallace Venable is Emeritus Associate Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at WVU and Chief Technical Officer of the Upper Monongahela River Association.

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See also: “Toxic Residues from Atlantic Coast Pipe Coatings Pose Public Health Risks in WV, Va & NC,” FrackCheckWV, September 1, 2020

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See also: ”Scotchkote Epoxy Resin Coating for ACP & MVP Results in Toxic Chemicals”, FrackCheckWV, September 2, 2020

ACP found challenges and issues in WV, VA & NC

Letter to Editor, Charleston Gazette-Mail, July 23, 2020

In his July 11 op-ed about the decision of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to scrap plans for construction, Doug Reynolds failed to mention the root cause of the pipeline’s demise. The ACP routinely violated laws and regulations to rush through completion. As reporting in the Gazette-Mail revealed, ACP, with complicity from the State of West Virginia, repeatedly filed shoddy permits that did not meet the letter of the law.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline was allowed to jump through regulatory hoops without proper analysis — permits were waived and permit requirements were changed to make it easier for ACP to move forward. Even then, ACP repeatedly failed to follow its permit requirements, resulting in polluted streams and numerous water-quality violations.

More often than not, these violations were documented by trained volunteers — West Virginians who, whatever their opinions of natural gas development, wanted nothing more than for ACP to do right by laws meant to protect our state’s water.

There was a time, not long ago, when natural gas companies and people concerned about the environment coexisted in West Virginia. At the scale of gas development before the fracking boom, they found ways to work together. International geopolitics, along with the Stone Age mentality of legislators to replace one boom-and-bust economy with another, changed that.

Mr. Reynolds quotes his father in defending the ACP, so I’ll quote mine, who was fond of citing our nation’s founders: “We are a nation of laws, not men.” As a proud union construction worker, he also believed the need to earn a dollar should never take precedent over the rights of private property owners nor the right to clean water. ACP and West Virginia’s legislators and administration showed little regard for either.

I am not anti-natural gas. I am, though, pro-property rights and a fervent believer that our state’s future rests in clean water and a readiness to demonstrate to potential new businesses that West Virginia is committed to a diversified economy where laws matter.

David Lillard, Shepherdstown, WV

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See also: CSI Results Show ACP Violations

Summary by Ellen Bouton, ABRA, January 27, 2019

The Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative (CSI) Surveillance Report for January 24, 2019, includes analysis of the November and December 2018 flight photos by CSI Aerial Image Reviewers. After the analysis, 22 separate complaints concerning regulatory non-compliance were submitted by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

Complaints concerned:

>> Failure to install, or delayed installation of, erosion and sediment control measures. (5 incidents)
>>> Deviation from approved erosion and sediment control and construction plans. (1 incident)
>>> Missing, failed, damaged, or improperly installed or maintained silt fences, filter socks, or other perimeter control devices. (13 incidents)
>>> Missing, failed, damaged, or improperly constructed right-of-way diversions (water bars or slope breakers) and outlet structures. (2 incidents)
>>>Sediment discharge into streams and wetlands. (1 incident)

Following a December 10, 2018 inspection conducted in response to some of these complaints, WVDEP issued a Notice of Violation to Dominion Energy Transportation, Inc. for noncompliance with permit terms and conditions and failure to comply with the project’s approved Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.

Proposed pipelines for shale gas in central Appalachia

Letter to Editor of Charleston Gazette-Mail by Jim Kotcon and Kevin Campbell, August 4, 2020

Doug Reynolds, majority owner of HD Media LLC, which owns the Charleston Gazette-Mail, questioned in a recent op-ed whether anyone wins from the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural gas project.

Unfortunately, he and a wide range of West Virginia leaders appear to be taking the wrong lessons from the cancellation. If West Virginia leaders want to promote economic development, they need to recognize what really happened here and what it means for the future.

Developers, politicians and other industry leaders blame “regulatory uncertainty” and litigation by environmentalists for the cancellation. But West Virginians should not be fooled: The developers of the pipeline really have only themselves and their bad management decisions to blame.

Courts tend to defer to regulatory agencies, so the court decisions halting the pipeline only could have happened because those violations were real. These were not the result of “regulatory uncertainty,” they were the result of developers trying to ignore the plain language of the law.

For over five years, we have told developers that climate change is real, that building a pipeline on steep slopes with erodible soils requires very careful, site-specific plans to prevent water pollution and that the need for the pipeline was never really demonstrated. Instead of addressing these very real issues, developers continually tried to bulldoze over our objections. Those bad decisions resulted in dozens of violations, successful legal challenges, wasted money and continuous conflict.

Water quality violations from Atlantic Coast are numerous. We saw it coming, we warned regulatory agencies in hundreds of public comments and complaints, and unfortunately, it happened as we forecast. This was not some big surprise, it was the inevitable and easily predictable result of trying to build on West Virginia’s steep slopes without adequate precautions.

The lack of need for the pipeline may have been the real driver for the cancellation. It was dubious from the beginning, driven more by the greed of developers to capture guaranteed returns from ratepayers than from any realistic assessment of market demand. As prices for exported gas collapsed and plans for new power plants were shelved, the economic justification looked more and more contrived. We suspect that if there were a legitimate market need, Atlantic Coast would not have been canceled, regardless of the environmental concerns.

Most importantly, climate change is real. We need to reduce use of fossil fuels quickly and be entirely out within 30 years. Investing billions of dollars in fossil fuel infrastructure would almost certainly never pay off. The passage in Virginia this spring of the state’s Clean Economy Act made that abundantly clear to developers, even if West Virginia politicians remain chained to the failed fossil fuel millstone of the past. Until we recognize the reality of climate change and adopt the needed policies to address it, economic development struggles will continue.

And if West Virginians want jobs, dollars invested in renewables now produce more jobs than fossil fuels. West Virginia continues to miss real job creation opportunities by trying to save a dying fossil fuel industry. Every surrounding state has more jobs in renewables than West Virginia, primarily due to the renewable energy policies chosen by lawmakers.

Reynolds asked, “Who won?” Well, landowners will get to use their property (we hope), so they won. West Virginia streams will be a little cleaner, so we all win that one. Ratepayers do not have to reward developers with billions of dollars for unnecessary costs, so they win big. Most of all, the greenhouse gases will not pollute the atmosphere for decades to come, so planet Earth wins.

Note: Jim Kotcon and Kevin Campbell are with the Sierra Club Chapter in West Virginia.
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See also: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was canceled. What happens to all the land acquired for it? – Virginia Mercury, July 29, 2020

The mainline of the ACP has been cancelled, so the Supply Header has lost its purpose

From the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, ABRA Update #285, July 24, 2020

ABRA members and all concerned citizens are urged to file comments request that Dominion Energy Transmission, Inc. (DETI) submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on July 10 for an extension of time of 1) one-year to address abandonment and restoration issues for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and 2) two-years to complete construction of the Supply Header Project (SHP). Most all the SHP is in West Virginia.

FERC has set a comment deadline of Monday, August 3. For details on how to comment, click here.

The major points that should be made in comments are:

>>> • The SHP time extension should be denied because it has not and cannot be justified in accordance with FERC standards. The project was proposed as being dependent upon the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). Dominion Energy clearly stated on the record that “the SHP does not have independent utility and would not be built without construction of the ACP.” If built, the SHP would be a pipeline to nowhere!

>>> • The extension request for the ACP to address abandonment and restoration activities along the project’s right-of-way should not be granted without a public comment period of at least 30-days. It is in the Commission’s interest to know the concerns that the public and affected landowners have about restoration activities and impacts on landowners’ rights in the future.

>>> • Landowners who entered into an easement agreement with Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC (Atlantic) should be provided an opportunity to be released from those agreements as a condition of FERC’s granting Atlantic its requested extension so that the landowners can once again utilize their land without the restrictions such agreements placed upon future use. The recommendation for such a remedy made in the July 17 filing by a group of conservation organizations (cited below) should be adopted by FERC.

RECOMMENDATION — “Require Atlantic to promptly contact all landowners where a right-of-way easement exists and inform them that:

(i) Atlantic will release the right-of-way easement within 90 days of a written request from an affected landowner,

(ii) Atlantic will provide the affected landowner with the proposed written release of the right-of-way easement,

(iii) Atlantic will pay the reasonable attorneys’ fees of the affected landowner in reviewing and negotiating changes to the proposed written release of the right-of-way easement, and

(iv) Atlantic will file the final, executed written release of the right-of-way easement in the land records of the appropriate jurisdiction. Atlantic has already committed that landowners will keep the easement compensation they have received.”

FERC’s agreement with this recommendation would be in keeping with the recently expressed interest by Chairman Chatterjee of the Commission being more response and sensitive to the interests and concerns of landowners who are affected by projects being considered by the Commission.

NOTE ADDED: The FERC electronic filing system is extremely difficult to use (obtuse), in which case the submission of hard copy by mail is suggested, sorry to say but necessary under these conditions. DGN

Subject: Supply Header Project (SHP), proposed natural gas pipeline in West Virginia (33.6 miles) and Pennsylvania (3.9 miles)

DOCKET NUMBERS … Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC Docket Nos. CP15-554-000, CP15-554-001, CP15-554-008 and Dominion Energy Transmission, Inc. CP15-555-000, CP15-555-006

FERC strongly encourages electronic filings of comments in lieu of paper using the “eFiling” link at www.ferc.gov.

In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, D.C. 20426.

Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Md. 20852.

The comment deadline on this project is 5:00 PM on August 3, 2020.

https://www.abralliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FERC-notice-of-time-extension-request-for-SHP-and-ACP-7-17-20.pdf

“Supply Header Project” (SHP) was part of the ACP transmission scheme

From an Article of The Recorder, July 17, 2020

MONTEREY — If the latest requests and comments to federal regulators are any indication, it’s going to take quite a while for the smoke to clear after cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Last week, the Southern Environmental Law Center said two requests Dominion Energy made to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission need extra FERC attention.

Friday, FERC set a 15-day comment period on Dominion’s requests for extending the timeline by one year for the ACP stand down, and two years for completing the supply header project. That was half the time SELC asked FERC to provide for stakeholders to address the modified request to extend the ACP’s construction deadline.

SELC attorneys Greg Buppert, Mark Sabath and Emily Wyche advised in comments to FERC to deny the request for a two-year extension to complete and place into service the proposed Supply Header Project (SHP) because the request fails to meet FERC’s standard for granting extensions. FERC has never granted an extension to an applicant deciding on whether to use a proposed project.

To the extent Dominion decides to move forward with the SHP minus the pipeline, Dominion must seek additional authorization from FERC in a new proceeding. FERC cannot act on the modified extension request for the ACP without providing an opportunity for additional intervention and public comment to address important questions.

Dominion requested a one-year extension for construction activities, which it asserts may be necessary for abandoning and restoring ACP project areas. “There may be good reason for this extension, but Atlantic has provided little explanation for the commission’s authority to grant this request and has left unaddressed details that will be important to the public,” SELC said. “The public could not have anticipated the need to address restoration of the now abandoned right of way during the initial extension comment period, before Atlantic and DETI abandoned the ACP.

The attorneys argued FERC must, at minimum, provide another comment period of at least 30 days. “For example, given the eminent domain authority that comes with a certificate order, and the hundreds of properties affected by the project, the public, and landowners in particular, will be interested in the status of Atlantic’s easements and eminent domain authority during the restoration period and the landowners’ associated rights to their property during this time,” they argued.

“Any extension of the construction deadline must include conditions limiting Atlantic’s authority under the certificate order, and public comment is necessary to identify what conditions would be appropriate. Specifically, if the commission grants the extension of time for construction activities, it must, at a minimum, address the following issues,” they said. They listed those as:
<< • Limiting activities to only those necessary for restoring the right of way and abandoning the pipeline and vacating the remainder of the certificate order, in turn removing Dominion’s eminent domain authority over the right of way.
<< • Identifying the mechanisms by which affected landowners will communicate specific restoration requirements to the company.
<< • Requiring Dominion to immediately commence consultation with all relevant state and federal agencies to promptly establish appropriate standards for completing restoration of the right of way.
<< • Identifying how FERC and other state and federal agencies will monitor restoration activities and associated environmental impacts. Monitoring could include a requirement that Dominion continue to submit regular status reports and environmental compliance monitoring reports during the restoration period.
<< • Requiring Dominion to promptly contact all landowners where a right of way easement exists and inform them Dominion will release the right of way easement within 90 days of a written request from an affected landowner; provide the landowner with the proposed written release; pay the reasonable attorneys’ fees of the landowner in reviewing and negotiating changes to the easement; and file the final, executed written release of the easement in the land records of the appropriate jurisdiction.

Dominion has already committed that landowners will keep the easement compensation they have received, they said.

“These are only a few of the important and complex issues that the commission must resolve and that the public must be permitted to address to help inform the commission’s decision,” SELC said, noting that public comment, while necessary, should only be the first step in developing a restoration plan for the ACP project areas.

“The public comment period will serve to highlight the concerns of landowners, conservation groups, and other stakeholders,” SELC added; but because Dominion did not include details in its extension request on what restoration may require or look like, citizens will be limited in their ability to weigh in.

SELC filed the comments on behalf of the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, Cowpasture River Preservation Association, Friends of Buckingham, Friends of Nelson, Highlanders for Responsible Development, Piedmont Environmental Council, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, Virginia Wilderness Committee, Sound Rivers, Inc., and Winyah Rivers Foundation.

FERC strongly encourages electronic filings of comments in lieu of paper using the “eFiling” link at www.ferc.gov. In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy.

Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, D.C. 20426.

Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Md. 20852.

The comment deadline is 5 p.m. on August 3, 2020.