Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

From an Article by Simone Jones & Nicole Noëlliste, Sidney Austin LLP, Bloomberg Law, March 5, 2020

The conventional wisdom in the environmental bar is that “environmental justice” remains an aspirational goal, rather than a concrete compliance point.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently sent the opposite message in Friends of Buckingham v. State Air Pollution Control Board (Jan. 7, 2020).

There, the court vacated the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board’s grant of a minor source permit to Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC (ACP) for the construction and operation of a compressor station, intended to facilitate the transmission of natural gas through ACP’s pipeline, in a historic, predominantly African American community. The court declared that “environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked.”

In September 2015, ACP filed an application with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a minor source New Source Review permit to construct and operate a compressor station consisting of four natural gas-fired turbines. The compressor station would emit nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and other pollutants. The compressor station was proposed to be constructed in Union Hill in Buckingham County, Virginia—an African American community largely occupied by descendants of freed slaves.

During the public comment period, a group of Buckingham County residents conducted a demographic study finding that Union Hill was largely African American, was comprised of descendants of former slaves, and alleged that community members suffered from health conditions that would make the residents more susceptible to emissions from the compressor station. Following public hearings, the board adopted the VA-DEQ’s recommendation to approve the permit.

Local Residents Challenge Compressor Permit

The Buckingham County residents challenged the permit before the Fourth Circuit, which vacated the approval of the permit on two primary grounds.

First, the court concluded that the board’s environmental justice review was insufficient in that it failed to determine whether the Union Hill community was a “minority” environmental justice community—an important designation when determining the likelihood of disproportionate health impacts to residents.

Under Va. Code Ann. § 10.1–1307(E), when approving minor source permits, the board is required to consider, among other things, “the character and degree of injury to, or interference with, safety, health, or the reasonable use of property which is caused or threatened to be caused,” and “the suitability of the activity to the areas in which it is located.”

The court cited as an additional error the board’s failure to assess the compressor station’s potential for disproportionate health impacts on the predominantly African American community, rejecting the board’s rationale that there could be no disproportionate health effects from air pollution below the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Notably, the court reasoned that even if all pollutants within the county remained below the NAAQS, the board must still assess the effect on the communities living closest to the compressor station.

The court also found that the board erred in failing to consider electric motors as alternatives to gas-fired turbines—technology that petitioners claimed would eliminate nearly all on-site air pollution from the compressor station.

Virginia Law was not clear or rational

Under Virginia law, minor source construction permits require best available control technology (BACT) review, a requirement that applies only under federal law to major emitting sources. The court rejected the “only rationale the Board could have ostensibly relied upon … for refusing to consider electric motors in its BACT analysis”: that replacing gas-fired turbines with electronic motors would constitute an impermissible “redefinition of the source.”

The court found that it was unable to locate in the administrative record a sufficient explanation of what the phrase means under Virginia law, specifically concluding, “We— and most importantly, the citizens of Virginia— do not know what the Virginia redefining the source doctrine is, how it works, and how this project meets its requirements.”

The court’s stated uncertainty should serve as direction to companies that “redefining a source” is yet another important issue to be considered as part of the project planning and approval process.

Concrete Compliance Requirement

The Fourth Circuit’s decision indicates that thorough consideration of a planned project’s potential impact on environmental justice communities is a concrete compliance requirement. Concerns around environmental justice have previously played a critical role in delaying energy projects.

For example, in In re: Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. & Shell Offshore Inc. (EPA Dec. 30, 2010), the Environmental Appeals Board, in remanding Shell’s Clean Air Act permits for drilling in the Arctic, held that the EPA’s analysis of the permitted drilling’s effect on environmental justice communities was inadequate.

Given what appears to be an emerging trend requiring compliance, the regulated community should carefully consider environmental justice laws and their import when planning and seeking approval of major, capital-intensive projects.

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Environmental Justice Review requires an in-depth study

.... many spoke out but few were listening ...

From an Article by Vivian Thomson, Virginia Mercury, January 9, 2020

On January 7, 2019, I posed the following question about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline compressor station proposed for Union Hill: “Is an African-American community in rural Virginia the right place to put a massive compressor station for a natural gas pipeline? This is the question the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board will consider at its meeting Tuesday.”

On Tuesday, exactly a year later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit vacated the air board’s decision to approve a permit for the compressor station, concluding that the board and the State Department of Environmental Quality failed to consider “whether this facility is suitable for this site.” The court also found “arbitrary and capricious and unsupported by substantial evidence” DEQ’s refusal to consider as Best Available Control Technology an electric turbine, which would not emit on-site air pollution.

I argued last January that Gov. Northam should pressure Dominion Energy, the lead partner in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline consortium, to find another site for the station, or that the governor should work with the General Assembly to that end. Several weeks earlier, in November 2018, the governor had abruptly ended the tenure of two air board members who were opposed to the compressor station. In sending this unmistakable message to the board, Governor Northam sided with Dominion Energy, even before all the facts were in.

Here are some of the facts that, as far as I know, the air board never saw. Researchers have not identified a safe threshold for exposure to fine particulate matter, which increases the risk of death at levels below the EPA’s standards. Each additional microgram per cubic meter of airborne fine particulate matter, measured as an annual average, causes an estimated 0.6 to 1 percent increase in mortality. Dominion Energy’s modeling showed that the compressor station’s pollution could add 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particulate matter to local annual average levels of fine particulate matter. Buckingham County already shows a lower life expectancy than the statewide average.

Scientists have connected cardiovascular and respiratory disease with exposure to fine particulate matter concentrations similar to those estimated in Dominion’s air-quality modeling. African Americans are among the most vulnerable to the effects of fine particulate matter exposures.

The air board is made up of citizens appointed by the governor who work without pay to promote transparency via public debates and votes and to broaden the base of regulatory decision making. Those board members rely on DEQ’s staff and leaders to provide them with both a wide range of regulatory alternatives and also with insightful, complete analyses.

Clearly, DEQ failed the board on both counts. I wish I could say I was surprised. In 2008, when I was on the air board, two fellow board members suggested that the 1987 board statement on site suitability should be revised, to clarify the board’s powers with respect to site suitability. The board members’ ideas were rebuffed by senior officials in the administration of then-Gov. Tim Kaine, including DEQ managers.

As I set forth in my 2017 book, Climate of Capitulation: An Insider’s Account of State Power in a Coal Nation, Virginia suffers from a persistent tendency by elected politicians and DEQ’s management to yield to the regulated community’s preferences, whether those preferences are explicitly stated or merely anticipated. On two high profile power plant permits that the board considered during my tenure, DEQ staff and managers repeatedly failed to press companies to achieve the lowest emissions possible, within the constraints of the law and available technologies.

In the wake of the outrage about a racist photo discovered on his medical school year book page, Gov. Northam has professed his support for the state’s minorities. So, it’s time for our governor to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. The governor must ensure, either through pressure or legislation, that this compressor station is moved to a remote location well away from people and non-human organisms that might be adversely affected.

The air board must assert its right to have the full picture on best technologies. Since the 4th Circuit has now decided that the board’s legal obligation includes formally assessing the environmental justice implications of its decisions, the board must revise and take public comment on its 33-year-old site suitability policy, before making any other permit decisions.

And finally: It is long past time for new management at DEQ.

The dedicated staff at DEQ deserve to be led by someone who will take them to high ground and help them hold it.

Friends of Nelson County & others are “standing” with Union Hill

Legal Brief: FERC’s Flaws Endanger Communities of Color in Atlantic Coast Pipeline Path

PRESS RELEASE. Contact: Jake Thompson, jthompson@nrdc.org, (202) 289-2387, Fabiola Nunez, fnunez@nrdc.org, (646) 889-1405; Elizabeth Heyd, eheyd@nrdc.org, (202) 289-2424

WASHINGTON (April 15, 2019) – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission broke the law in two key ways that discounted and endangered African American and American Indian communities in Virginia and North Carolina in approving the proposed Atlantic Coast gas pipeline. That’s what environmental, civil rights, faith-based, and other groups contend in a brief filed in federal court.

“The Atlantic Coast gas project is controversial for many reasons—it’s costly, unneeded, and could endanger drinking water and pollute other natural resources while fueling climate change,” said Montina Cole, senior attorney in the Sustainable FERC Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Tragically, it’s also a prime example of FERC effectively facilitating environmental injustice. We’re calling on the court to right this wrong and help protect communities of color in Virginia and North Carolina from environmental hazard and harm.”

NRDC and nine other groups filed an amicus brief on April 12 challenging FERC’s approval of the Atlantic Coast pipeline on environmental justice grounds before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The groups want the court to declare FERC’s approval of the pipeline null and void or order FERC to conduct a new environmental justice review.

The other signers are: Center for Earth Ethics; Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice; North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign; Repairers of the Breach; Satchidananda Ashram – Yogaville; Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church; Virginia Interfaith Power & Light; Virginia State Conference NAACP; and WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

The brief details how FERC failed to serve the public interest in evaluating, and approving, construction of the proposed 600-mile, $7.5 billion Atlantic Coast project. Dominion Energy is seeking to build the pipeline to transport gas through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

“If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conducted a thorough public interest analysis, as it should, a balanced and accurate environmental justice review would further demonstrate what is already known: that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is not needed to meet our energy needs, is environmentally unjust, would cause permanent environmental damage, and should be rejected,” said William Barber III, Co-Chair, Ecological Devastation Committee, North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign.

FERC’s most egregious error was relying on a deeply flawed methodology to identify environmental justice communities affected by the Atlantic Coast project and failing to address the adverse impacts of the project.

First, FERC relied on three large census tracts to analyze the potential impact of a planned gas compressor station for the pipeline in Virginia’s Buckingham County. Because the census tracts covered 500 square miles and included largely white rural areas, FERC found no environmental justice communities were near the compressor site.

That’s even though the compressor site would be in Union Hill—a largely African American community founded by freed slaves. Through its flawed analysis, which included another error that ruled out identifying an environmental justice community, FERC essentially erased or buried Union Hill.

The end result: FERC cooked its analysis and found no harm would come from the air pollution generated by the industrial compressor facility on a community of people who would be disproportionately impacted by air pollution. A map of this issue with further explanation is here.

Second, FERC lumped all “minorities” together, which led it to overlook the fact that 25 percent of North Carolina’s American Indians, about 50,000 people, live along the Atlantic Coast route. The end outcome: FERC offered no analysis of the impacts of the pipeline on American Indians.

Because FERC failed to identify these communities of color in Virginia and North Carolina, it didn’t analyze the health and environmental risks they face from the pipeline and its compressor stations, the groups charge. It’s well documented that pollution emitted from compressor stations exacerbates health issues like asthma and cancer risks that disproportionally affect communities of color.

Incredibly, even when FERC did identify a minority community—like the one near another planned compressor site in North Carolina—it dismissed the disproportionate health risks, saying that pollution levels would be within legal limits. But that doesn’t constitute an analysis of the impact on the community—it’s a dodge. Further, the Environmental Protection Agency has found the pollutants present health risks at any level, the groups note in their brief.

Others who signed onto the brief weighed in on the issue:

>>> Rev. Paul Wilson, Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church said: “Dominion is following a playbook utility companies often use: ram a risky project through a marginalized community, like Union Hill, because they can’t stop it. They treated us as though we didn’t even exist for a while. But we refused to be treated that way. Our community will keep on refusing to be treated as though we don’t matter, because we are strong, we are united, and we are convinced that this this pipeline, and its compressor station, pose a risk to us that we should not have to bear.”

>>> Rev. Kevin Chandler, President, Virginia State Conference NAACP, said: “The Virginia State Conference NAACP continues to stand strongly in opposition to any project that presents disproportionate impact to the health and safety of African-American, communities of color, and low-income communities. African-Americans are exposed to 38 percent more polluted air than Caucasian Americans and are 75 percent more likely to live in fence-line communities than the average American. Furthermore, the pollution emitted by compressor stations, like the one proposed for Union Hill, is linked to increased risk of cancer and respiratory disorders, not to mention the pollution the compressor station will cause to our lands and water bodies. This project should never have been approved. Now is a golden opportunity to right a wrong, and protect our air, water, lands, and people.”

>>> Karenna Gore, Director, Center for Earth Ethics, said: “Every American has an inalienable right to breathe clean air, drink safe water, be protected from poisons and live free from environmental injustice. We are honored to stand with the too-often marginalized people on the frontlines of ecological devastation, like those in Union Hill and Indigenous families along the proposed route of the Atlantic Coast pipeline, who are fighting for their rights, and our future.”

>>> Kendal Crawford, Director, Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, said: “This is what environmental injustice looks like, and Virginia is not alone. It’s sobering, clear and disturbing to see that fossil fuel infrastructure—from power plants to pipelines—is too often placed in communities of color across our country, and FERC is guilty of promoting this environmental injustice. It shouldn’t be allowed to continue operating this way, putting people at grave risk, if we are striving towards a just society.”

>>> Cecil Corbin-Mark, Director of Policy Initiatives, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, said: “Low-income and people of color are more likely to live closer to sources of pollution, leading to unfair health outcomes. We hope that the court will undo FERC’s too-hasty approval of the Atlantic Coast pipeline and the compressor facility that would emit unhealthy air pollution in Union Hill. Everyone has the right to breathe clean air and we need action in our most vulnerable communities to ensure that right extends to all Americans.”

The groups argue that in its environmental justice review, FERC violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). They hope the court agrees and decides to take action against FERC.

The legal brief is here.

A blog on the issue by NRDC’s Montina Cole is here.

A map showing one way FERC evaluated whether an environmental justice community exists near the proposed pipeline’s compressor facility in Virginia is here.

Union Hill deserves protection from noise & air pollution

Press Release of Southern Environmental Law Center, Charlottesville, VA, February 8, 2019

Richmond, VA — Today the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of its client the Friends of Buckingham, challenged the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board’s decision to approve Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline Buckingham County compressor station.

“The Air Board has refused to address the disproportionate harm that our community will have to bear as a result of the construction of this polluting compressor station,” said John W. Laury of Friends of Buckingham. “The members of our community should not have our health put at risk for a project that wasn’t properly vetted for environmental justice or air quality concerns.”

The Air Board and the Department of Environmental Quality did not meet their obligations under state and federal laws to consider less polluting alternatives and the best available pollution controls for minimizing pollution from the proposed compressor station.

“The backdrop to the board’s decision about the compressor station is the mounting evidence that customers in Virginia do not need the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to meet their energy needs,” said Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Greg Buppert. “When a project like this pipeline goes forward without a full and transparent evaluation of its public necessity, it unfairly puts communities like Union Hill in harm’s way.”

Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline project is already stymied because a federal court has vacated or put on hold multiple required permits for failing to comply with applicable law and federal agencies have themselves revoked other permits.

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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 more than 80 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 Moral Call for Ecological Justice in Buckingham, Feb. 19th, 6 to 8 PM.

Join Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and former Vice President Al Gore for a program on “The Moral Call for Ecological Justice in Buckingham.” The public is invited to this free, educational event, where Buckingham residents and other Virginians will share stories of the impacts of environmental injustice, and scientific experts will discuss the health threats and ecological devastation of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline and compressor station. As we celebrate Black History Month, we recognize how poverty, racism and ecological concerns are connected, and that we cannot address just one without addressing the others.

Rev. Dr. Barber is President of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Former Vice President Gore is the founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit devoted to solving the climate crisis.

Please note: We encourage you to RSVP for this event, but you will not need your ticket to get in. Please share and bring others!

Date And Time: Tue, February 19, 2019, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST

Location: Buckingham Middle School, 1184 High School Road, Buckingham, VA 23921

Protesting at VA Governor’s offices in Richmond on November 16, 2018

From an Article By Mechelle Hankerson, Virginia Mercury News, November 16, 2018

PHOTO ABOVE — Demonstrators outside the governor’s offices on Broad Street in Richmond Friday protest Gov. Ralph Northam’s decision to remove two members of the State Air Pollution Control Board as it weighs a crucial permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (Virginia Pipeline Resisters)

Gov. Ralph Northam named new members for the state’s air and water boards a day after he ignited the ire of environmental groups by removing air board members whose terms expired months ago just as the panel weighs a crucial permit for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

“We hope these new board members are qualified, but, frankly, we have no idea who they are,” said Mike Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, in a statement.

“What we do know is that they are replacing two highly respected, well-qualified board members who dared to ask the hard questions about Dominion’s unnecessary and destructive pipeline, and that their appointments come just weeks before an important final vote on this project and on the heels of a contentious hearing where they raised serious concerns.”

The only explanation from Northam’s office for the timing of the move — the replaced members’ terms all expired in June — has been that he is “exercising his statutory authority to appoint members of his choosing to these board seats,” his spokeswoman, Ofirah Yheskel, said in a statement. “The governor’s decision is not because of anything pending before the air board,” she added Friday.

Northam chose Gail Bush, a clinical manager at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus and Kajal B. Kapur of Kapur Energy Environment Economics, LLC, to replace two air board members.

Bush is part of Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action, a group of medical professionals who advocate for climate change solutions that protect community’s health, according to its website.

Kapur’s firm performs economic, policy, regulatory and environmental consulting work, providing “expert advice on these issues to consulting firms, consumer counsel offices, federal and international agencies, state and local governments, regulatory commissions and environmental quality offices,” according to its website.

‘THE GOVERNOR HAS MADE A HUGE MISTAKE’

On Thursday, Northam removed Rebecca Rubin and Sam Bleicher from the air board. (Bleicher also serves on the board of the League of Conservation Voters).

Both of their terms expired in June, but they had continued to serve on the board, including during last week’s meeting on the proposed air permit for a Buckingham County compressor station that is part of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Bleicher and Rubin had both expressed concerns about the siting of the station in Union Hill and whether the emissions produced would have a disproportionate effect on the largely African-American community.

Dominion has said the compressor station location is a result of the proximity to the existing Transco pipeline system, which the ACP will connect to, and nothing else. The board deferred a vote on the permit, and is scheduled to take it up again in December.

“We believe Gov. Northam has made a huge mistake and one that has immensely marred his standing and reputation in the conservation community and one that impacts overall public trust in this administration, as well,” Town said.

Town added that “the appearance that Gov. Northam replaced these board members to protect Dominion Energy at the expense of the predominantly African-American community of Union Hill is unconscionable and unacceptable.”

The Virginia State Conference of the NAACP also criticized the air board member removals. “It was expected their term(s) would be extended due to their involvement and knowledge of such a complex and monumental project. We fear disrupting the citizen review board midstream is a disservice to the Union Hill community’s right to a fair and impartial hearing,” the group said in a statement.

“The termination of two valued board members at this crucial juncture diminishes the ability of the board to effectively perform its assigned job. Furthermore, the governor’s action may signal to other board members that asking too many questions about an influential utility’s potential impact on a vulnerable historic community may lead to their removal.”

Northam also booted Roberta Kellam from the State Water Control Board, where she opposed permits related to the pipeline. However, Robert Dunn, chairman of that board, who voted to grant permits for both the ACP and the separate Mountain Valley Pipeline, is also out.

Northam replaced them with Paula Hill Jasinski, president of Chesapeake Environmental Communications and Green Fin Studio, and James Lofton, assistant chief counsel for Airports and Environmental Law in the Federal Aviation Administration to the water board.

Jasinski’s Studio is a marketing firm that specializes in working with environmental groups and she has a background in marine biology. “It’s a humbling appointment, I look forward to the challenge,” she said in an interview, adding that there are a lot of controversial issues the board will take up and it shouldn’t shy away from making tough decisions.

Environmental groups said they were most concerned with the air board replacements. The League of Conservation Voters, a major Northam campaign contributor and among the most active environmental lobbying outfits in the Capitol, is familiar with Jasinski, Town said, but the rest of Northam’s appointments are unknown to the group, who provided the administration with suggestions for replacements.

Protesters outside the governor’s office on Broad Street Friday blasted the decision to remove the air board members while the permit is in play, casting it as a forceful intervention in the regulatory process that contradicts Northam’s longstanding stated deference to the boards and agencies dealing with permitting on the controversial pipeline projects.

Many saw the influence of Dominion Energy, the politically potent utility, at work.

“Dominion has used their power in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which they have a lot of, to continue their taking over and dominating the property, space, and livelihoods of minority communities, particularly people of color, and it’s time for it to stop,” said Richard Walker, a descendant of the freed slaves who founded the Union Hill community, in a statement.

Heidi Dhivya Berthoud, a member of the Friends of Buckingham group, which has fought the project, said the governor “can no longer hide behind his stated faith in the state’s regulatory agencies to protect our air, water and communities.”

“The air board did their job and listened to our well-reasoned arguments about the compressor station and stood up to DEQ’s and Dominion’s deceptions,” she said. “Now we see what happens when the truth is told.”

Proposed Charles Compressor for Cove Point LNG export terminal

From an Article by lowkell, AMP Creeks Council, Blue Virginia, October 15, 2018

The AMP Creeks Council and greater Southern Maryland Community are Celebrating a Victory in a two-year fight against Dominion Energy Cove Point’s (DECP) efforts to build a giant fracked gas compressor station on 14 clear cut acres surrounded by fragile wetlands that often flood in the Accokeek/Bryans Road area.

Emily Architzel, an AMP Creeks Board member who recently moved from Bryans Road to Accokeek and is disabled said, “Holy cow! I’m breathing a giant fracked gas-free sigh of relief. The pollution from this compressor station would have driven my family out of the area because of the potential impacts to my health.”

This morning Dominion released the following statement:

“Dominion Energy will not construct a natural gas transmission compressor station at its Charles County Marshall Hall site. We will continue our existing operations at that site, which consist of a field office, a warehouse, and pipeline inspection and safety-related equipment.

“We are actively evaluating alternatives for this component of our Eastern Market Access project. This requires the engagement of multiple stakeholders, as successful solutions must meet the needs of the project’s customers. Discussions with customers are ongoing.”

Dominion’s application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) included a schedule announcing November 1, 2017 as the date they intended to begin construction of the Charles Station compressor station. If built, the Charles Station compressor station would increase capacity on the Dominion Cove Point pipeline, purportedly to send gas to a power plant that now seems unlikely to get built in Brandywine and to Washington Gas and Light.

None of the gas would go to the area in which Charles Station was proposed (Charles County, in spitting distance of the Prince George’s County line). Indeed, it is widely believed that Charles Station was intended to push gas to Dominion’s Cove Point export terminal in Calvert County, Maryland.

Dominion suffered a possibly fatal blow to the project’s permitting process this spring after 12 hearings, during which AMP Creeks and several individuals were represented by J. Carroll Holzer, P.A., when the Charles County Board of Appeals denied Dominion’s application for a zoning special exception to build Charles Station.

Dominion then sued the Board of Appeals and the Charles County Board of Commissioners in the Federal District Court of Maryland in a desperate attempt to have the entire Charles County zoning code preempted. AMP Creeks filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings.

The admirable, but difficult ruling by the Board of Appeals was made under extreme pressure, and set in motion a mechanism that could stop the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) from approving Dominion’s Air Quality permit. Without that permit, Dominion would be unable to move forward.

Recently, MDE stopped all work on the permit and two others for the same project because of the controversy over the Board of Appeals ruling and conversations Dominion was having with the Mount Vernon Ladies Association which had joined the chorus of voices opposing Charles Station. The closed door conversations were reported to be about moving the compressor station out of Mount Vernon’s viewshed.

Dominion filed a motion for a stay, and then another one, asking the Federal District Court of Maryland to pause its proceedings while it searched for a new site. Dominion has not filed papers with the court announcing any intentions to drop the suit at this time.

AMP Creeks President Kelly Canavan said, “AMP Creeks is fully committed to continuing to fight this project wherever it rears its ugly head, but for now we’re celebrating. We fully intend that this win will be a trend, not an aberration. The health of one community is no more important than the health of another. Dominion’s carpetbagging profiteering has no place in a decent society.”

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Tractor Blockade Shuts Down Clear-Cutting at Dominion Gas Compressor Site — By Anne Meador for DC Media Group, April 2, 2018.

Equitrans pipeline connectors as bold red lines

From a News Report of Sean Sullivan, SNL Daily Gas Report, SNL Financial LC, December 29, 2017
 
Staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked for more information before they sign off on a request to proceed with construction on an Equitrans LP natural gas pipeline expansion linked to the larger Mountain Valley pipeline.
 
In a Dec. 28 letter, FERC staff asked Equitrans to respond within 10 days with additional information to help staff check for compliance with environmental conditions in the commission’s Oct. 13 approval order. Equitrans had filed a request Dec. 20 for a partial notice to proceed that covered most of the project.
 
In the October order, FERC approved the estimated $172 million Equitrans project as a piece connected to the $3.7 billion, 2-Bcf/d Mountain Valley pipeline led by EQT Midstream Partners LP. The Equitrans expansion would consist of seven miles of pipeline and a new compressor station in Pennsylvania, as well as the abandonment of an existing compressor station. Equitrans is owned by EQT Midstream.
 
The Mountain Valley project, a joint venture of EQT and affliates of NextEra Energy Inc., RGC Resources Inc., WGL Holdings Inc. and Consolidated Edison Inc., would bring gas about 300 miles from West Virginia to pipeline connections in Virginia for transport to markets farther downstream.
 
The information requested by FERC staff includes data on permanent stockpile areas near the Redhook compressor station in Greene County, Pa.; maps with the locations of all parts of the expansion project, including temporary work spaces and staging areas; survey results for drinking water sources; survey reports for water bodies and wetlands; documentation that shows the developer submitted erosion control plan to appropriate state agencies; and an analysis of horizontal directional drill noise. (FERC docket CP16-13)
 
Contact: Lorne Stockman, Senior Research Analyst, Oil Change International, 714 G Street SE, Suite 202, Washington, DC 20003
W: priceofoil.org


Accident Compressor Station from above (photo)

From an Article by Renee Shreve, Garrett County Republican (Maryland), November 22, 2017

Accident area residents may soon be able to receive alerts to warn them of pending Texas Eastern “blowdowns” and other scheduled natural gas events.

The issue was discussed during the Garrett County commissioners’ semi-annual Board of Health meeting last Thursday. The session was part of the Garrett County Health Planning Council’s monthly meeting.

Linda Herdering, Bumble Bee Road, Accident, asked the commissioners and various health officials in attendance to develop an alert system for residents so they could plan for the scheduled blowdowns. “Many of you don’t live on the Accident dome and may not be aware of what it is and what happens,” Herdering said.

Owned and managed by Enbridge Energy Partners/Texas Eastern, the “dome” refers to an underground natural gas storage field covering about 53 square miles in and around the town of Accident. The Texas-based company’s related infrastructure includes an intricate underground pipeline system, 84 vertical wells, and a compressor station.

“Those who live near the compressor station and any of those wells are frightened because of the noise when they (Enbridge) release gases to let the pressure off the lines,” Herdering said. She noted in a handout that a Texas Eastern permit defines these blowdowns as gas releases and purges of equipment at both the Accident compressor station and throughout the storage field.

The blowdowns are needed if a gas pipeline is taken off-line for maintenance, during emergencies, or to accommodate fluctuating demand. The releases, which are usually scheduled in advance, can occur on weekends and in the middle of the night.

“Blowdowns can last for two hours, and the noise is comparable to a commercial jet taking off in very close proximity,” she said. “Blowdowns and compressor engines can be extreme, enough to rattle a nearby home.”

Herdering also noted the releases can emit toxic gases, including methane, benzene, toluene, sulfuric oxide, and formaldehyde.

“This has been going on for years and years, and the residents live with it,” Herdering said about the blowdowns. “They know what it is. But it would be really nice if they had advance notice that this happens, like many other towns do. These are scheduled events. Enbridge Energy knows when they are going to do this. If it’s an emergency, that’s another story.”

In other areas, such as Myersville, where natural gas releases occur, town officials and/or energy companies alert residents via emails. Herdering indicated the warnings enable people to schedule their plans accordingly to avoid the noise and toxic exposure.
“There are a hundred reasons,” she said about the need for an alert.

She pointed out it would be easy for the county to set up an email warning system, as it already has a website that alerts residents about certain issues. “I’ve asked Enbridge Energy to do it, but they’re not listening to residents,” Herdering said. “We need the county’s support to work with Enbridge.”

She noted that she presented her ideas to the commissioners six months ago. Commissioner Paul Edwards said the issue was, indeed, brought up at the last Board of Health meeting and her information was reviewed.

“We agree,” Edwards said about the need for alerts. “Over the last six months, we have had some conversations with Enbridge. They do not do that (send out alerts). They have no interest in doing that. They have their own policies and procedures that, at this point in time, they are not going to change.”

Edwards stressed that the county and state do not have any legal authority to make the company change its policies.

“However, we are working on exactly what you asked for,” he told Herdering. “If Enbridge won’t do it, we’re trying to create a mechanism to do it. We have some of the infrastructure in place through our IT Department, but we have to do some upgrades to our website.” Edwards noted that should be completed within the next 30 days. “They (IT personnel) are working on it right now,” he said.

Edwards indicated residents will be able to sign up on the county’s website on the Citizen Connect page to receive alerts about a scheduled blowdown. “But here’s the caveat to that,” he stressed. “We’ve asked Enbridge to let us know when they are going to do it so we can, therefore, put the information out. If they don’t do that, there’s not much we can do.”

Edwards said he was led to believe that Enbridge has basically agreed to inform the county. “So, that is the hope,” he said.

Edwards told Herdering the commissioners and Board of Health agreed with what she said. “We’re trying to fix that,” he said. “People should be notified, and we’re trying to make that possible.”

“That is wonderful news,” Herdering said. “Thank you very much.”

See also: Maryland Environmental Health Network (MdEHN) sponsors of Community of Communities, a coalition of Maryland communities affected by natural gas infrastructure.

Springtime is spoiled by toxic fumes & chemicals

Proctor Residents Suing Williams Ohio Valley Midstream

From an Article by Drew Parker, Wetzel Chronicle, March 22, 2017

Proctor, WV — An energy company is facing a lawsuit for allegedly disrupting the daily lives of local residents.

On January 4th, Proctor residents Glenn Whisler, Sandra Whisler, Gary Hall, James McKinney and Jennifer McKinney filed a lawsuit against Williams Ohio Valley Midstream LLC, claiming the company caused noise disruptions, exposed them to toxins and devalued their properties.

Williams operates a compressor site in close proximity to the homes in question, located near Rines Ridge in Marshall County.

According to the complaint, the lawsuit alleges the Williams operations caused fumes, dust, dirt and noise and bright light to be present on the properties during all hours of the day and night. The complaint also cited fear of risks such as possible explosions near the site, as well as constant traffic surrounding the homes.

Attorney Jim Bordas of Bordas & Bordas Law Offices said the alleged damages have caused fear and concern in the affected community.

“In all cases like these the damages are a result of these big factories being put in put in people’s backyards, which is not what they bargained for when they bought their homes. Now, they’re concerned not only about the noise, smell and toxicity but the value of their property. When you move to the country, you figure you’re getting away from the effects of industry,” Bordas said. “We’re seeking for them to pay damages for the annoyance, aggravation fear and diminishment of property value, which will be up to a judge to determine. We think they’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Their whole lives have been disrupted.”

Bordas & Bordas attorney Jeremy McGraw said the case follows several other similar suits filed against Williams, which include about three dozen local plaintiffs. Other suits involve the energy company’s main facilities in Oak Grove on Fork Ridge Road and at Fort Beeler on Waynesburg Pike Road, both in Marshall County.

The series of litigation began in late 2015.

“One of the things that worries us about the industry is that they put a lot of lobbyists in Charleston this past year (pushing for legislation) that would make them not responsible for these incidents,” McGraw said.

Officials with Williams Energy could not be reached for comment.

See also: www.Marcellus-Shale.us