Sen. Kaine does his homework & presents reasoned arguments

From Senator Tim Kaine (D – VA), Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, October 13, 2022

Thank you for contacting me about energy permitting reform and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). I appreciate hearing from you.

On Tuesday, August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. This historic legislation invests $369 billion in addressing climate change and improving domestic energy production and manufacturing, reducing carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030, and bringing an estimated $11.6 billion of investment in large-scale power generation and storage to Virginia. The Inflation Reduction Act does not fund or approve the construction of any pipeline.

As part of a bargain to ensure the passage of the historic Inflation Reduction Act, which I was proud to support as the biggest step the United States has ever taken to address climate change, Senate leadership agreed to take up separate legislation to ensure the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). If completed as proposed, the MVP would run through Craig, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke counties.

For many years, I have received input from Virginians about the MVP. However, I was not consulted about this deal, and I did not support the pipeline provisions in it pertaining to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. I expressed my views publicly in the run-up to a vote on a critical government funding bill that contained this provision, and I am relieved it was ultimately stripped out due to enough other Senators joining me to oppose it.

We owe it to Virginians to ensure that any energy project that deeply affects their communities, even to the point of seizing their property, should only proceed following an orderly, fair, and transparent process overseen by energy and environmental agencies. That’s why I agree with the need to reform our broken process for permitting energy infrastructure. I am receptive to many of the permitting reform provisions in the Manchin bill, though I believe it could be significantly improved by including my legislation to improve the permitting process, the Pipeline Fairness, Transparency, and Responsible Development Act.

However, the MVP portions of this bill were unacceptable to me. Over 100 miles of this pipeline are in Virginia, but I was not included in the discussions and therefore not given an opportunity to share Virginians’ concerns. In that sense, I stood in the same position as many of my constituents who have felt ignored along the way.

Green-lighting the MVP is contrary to the spirit of permitting reform. Such a deliberate action by Congress to put its thumb on the scale and simply approve this project while shutting down opportunities for full administrative or judicial review is at odds with the bipartisan desire to have a more transparent and workable permitting process. It also contradicts a position I have publicly advocated for many years—that Congress should not be the decider of these projects, but should instead set up an effective administrative permitting system and allow it to work without legislative interference.

I also strongly objected to the highly unusual provisions to eliminate any judicial review for key parts of the MVP process and strip jurisdiction away from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for cases involving the MVP. The owners of the MVP may be dissatisfied with rulings of the Fourth Circuit; in my 18 years as a civil rights lawyer practicing in the Fourth Circuit, I wasn’t always happy with the Court’s rulings. But a litigant in federal court—rich or poor, individual or company—has appellate remedies if it disagrees with a court ruling. Allowing one party disappointed with the actions of a court to pick a different court, bypass normal administrative processes, and eliminate meaningful judicial review of its project would set a dangerous precedent that could easily lead to abuse and even corruption in the future.

I have tracked the checkered regulatory process of the MVP for many years. I have held public input sessions as far back as 2015. I wrote a 5-page letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) summarizing the key points of what I heard. I introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Morgan Griffith to improve the FERC process when it comes to issues like eminent domain, adequate public meetings and opportunities for input, compensation for crossings of the Appalachian Trail or conservation easements, and whether multiple pipelines in the same geographic region should be sited less than 100 miles from one another.

I have been doing everything I can to amplify the voices of Virginians in this process. Whether you oppose or support the pipelines, Virginians deserve to have confidence that FERC has followed a full and fair process and considered all factors. Congress should not make decisions on individual pipelines because that would inevitably lead to partisan decision-making. But Congress writes the laws that govern FERC, and I believe that if the FERC process is flawed, Congress should adjust the law to fix the flaws. This is what I have proposed to do.

I will be sure to keep your views in mind should permitting reform legislation again be considered by the full Senate. Again, thank you for contacting me on this important issue, and please continue to make your voice heard.

Sincerely, Sen. Tim Kaine, U. S. Senate, Washington, DC

Stream crossings can mean stream contamination

From an Action Alert, Mountain Valley Pipeline, May 20, 2021

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is back at it, attempting to construct their pipeline through headwater streams, under rivers and across wetlands. Right now, the Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing a request to allow them to proceed with waterbody crossings. Read our full comments to the Army Corps of Engineers on the request.

If you’ve been following this story for the past 6 years, (read our recent blog on the current state of the MVP) you’ll remember that MVP’s stream crossing permit was vacated by the courts because they could not meet the conditions of the general permit, the Nationwide 12, which covers activities related to pipeline construction.

Now, MVP is applying for a more site-specific, individual permit in an attempt to complete construction through the 600 waterbodies that have yet to be crossed, which includes some of the biggest rivers, steepest terrain and most sensitive habitats.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is four years behind schedule, $3 billion over budget and has already incurred over 300 water violations and $2.7 million in fines between the two Virginias. It’s time to kick this ill-conceived project to the curb once and for all.

Tell the Army Corps of Engineers that this project is not in the public interest and they must deny MVP’s request.

Major environmental-change categories expressed as a percentage relative to intact baseline. Red indicates percentage of category damaged, lost or otherwise affected; blue indicates percentage intact, remaining or unaffected

From an Article by Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Daniel T. Blumstein and Paul Ehrlich, The Conversation, January 13, 2021

Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood.

The research published today reviews more than 150 studies to produce a stark summary of the state of the natural world. We outline the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption and planetary toxification. We clarify the gravity of the human predicament and provide a timely snapshot of the crises that must be addressed now.

The problems, all tied to human consumption and population growth, will almost certainly worsen over coming decades. The damage will be felt for centuries and threatens the survival of all species, including our own.

Our paper was authored by 17 leading scientists, including those from Flinders University, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Our message might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But scientists must be candid and accurate if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face.

First, we reviewed the extent to which experts grasp the scale of the threats to the biosphere and its lifeforms, including humanity. Alarmingly, the research shows future environmental conditions will be far more dangerous than experts currently believe.

This is largely because academics tend to specialize in one discipline, which means they’re in many cases unfamiliar with the complex system in which planetary-scale problems—and their potential solutions—exist.

What’s more, positive change can be impeded by governments rejecting or ignoring scientific advice, and ignorance of human behavior by both technical experts and policymakers.

More broadly, the human optimism bias – thinking bad things are more likely to befall others than yourself—means many people underestimate the environmental crisis.

Our research also reviewed the current state of the global environment. While the problems are too numerous to cover in full here, they include:

>> A halving of vegetation biomass since the agricultural revolution around 11,000 years ago. Overall, humans have altered almost two-thirds of Earth’s land surface

>> About 1,300 documented species extinctions over the past 500 years, with many more unrecorded. More broadly, population sizes of animal species have declined by more than two-thirds over the last 50 years, suggesting more extinctions are imminent

>> About 1 million plant and animal species globally threatened with extinction. The combined mass of wild mammals today is less than one-quarter the mass before humans started colonizing the planet. Insects are also disappearing rapidly in many regions

>> Some 85% of the global wetland area lost in 300 years, and more than 65% of the oceans compromised to some extent by humans

>> A halving of live coral cover on reefs in less than 200 years and a decrease in seagrass extent by 10% per decade over the last century. About 40% of kelp forests have declined in abundance, and the number of large predatory fishes is fewer than 30% of that a century ago.

The human population has reached 7.8 billion – double what it was in 1970—and is set to reach about 10 billion by 2050. More people equals more food insecurity, soil degradation, plastic pollution and biodiversity loss.

High population densities make pandemics more likely. They also drive overcrowding, unemployment, housing shortages and deteriorating infrastructure, and can spark conflicts leading to insurrections, terrorism, and war.

Essentially, humans have created an ecological Ponzi scheme. Consumption, as a percentage of Earth’s capacity to regenerate itself, has grown from 73% in 1960 to more than 170% today.

High-consuming countries like Australia, Canada and the US use multiple units of fossil-fuel energy to produce one energy unit of food. Energy consumption will therefore increase in the near future, especially as the global middle class grows.

Then there’s climate change. Humanity has already exceeded global warming of 1°C this century, and will almost assuredly exceed 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2052. Even if all nations party to the Paris Agreement ratify their commitments, warming would still reach between 2.6°C and 3.1°C by 2100.

Our paper found global policymaking falls far short of addressing these existential threats. Securing Earth’s future requires prudent, long-term decisions. However this is impeded by short-term interests, and an economic system that concentrates wealth among a few individuals.

Right-wing populist leaders with anti-environment agendas are on the rise, and in many countries, environmental protest groups have been labeled “terrorists.” Environmentalism has become weaponised as a political ideology, rather than properly viewed as a universal mode of self-preservation.

Financed disinformation campaigns against climate action and forest protection, for example, protect short-term profits and claim meaningful environmental action is too costly—while ignoring the broader cost of not acting. By and large, it appears unlikely business investments will shift at sufficient scale to avoid environmental catastrophe.

Fundamental change is required to avoid this ghastly future. Specifically, we and many others suggest:

>> Abolishing the goal of perpetual economic growth
>> Revealing the true cost of products and activities by forcing those who damage the environment to pay for its restoration, such as through carbon pricing
>> Rapidly eliminating fossil fuels
>> Regulating markets by curtailing monopolisation and limiting undue corporate influence on policy
>> Reining in corporate lobbying of political representatives
>> Educating and empowering women around the globe, including giving them control over family planning.

Many organizations and individuals are devoted to achieving these aims. However their messages have not sufficiently penetrated the policy, economic, political and academic realms to make much difference.

Failing to acknowledge the magnitude and gravity of problems facing humanity is not just naïve, it’s dangerous. And science has a big role to play here.

Scientists must not sugarcoat the overwhelming challenges ahead. Instead, they should tell it like it is. Anything else is at best misleading, and at worst potentially lethal for the human enterprise.

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See also: What is a ‘mass extinction’ and are we in one now?Frédérik Saltré & Corey Bradshaw, The Conversation, November 12, 2019

For more than 3.5 billion years, living organisms have thrived, multiplied and diversified to occupy every ecosystem on Earth. The flip side to this explosion of new species is that species extinctions have also always been part of the evolutionary life cycle.

But these two processes are not always in step. When the loss of species rapidly outpaces the formation of new species, this balance can be tipped enough to elicit what are known as “mass extinction” events. Five major mass extinctions have been identified in the geological record, and the sixth extinction is now evident.

The rugged mountains and many streams are readily damaged by large pipeline projects

From an Article by Laurence Hammack, Roanoke Times, October 27, 2020

ROANOKE — Two endangered species of fish — the Roanoke logperch and the candy darter — could be pushed closer to extinction if a natural gas pipeline is allowed to invade their waters, according to a legal challenge filed Tuesday.

A coalition of environmental groups asked a federal appeals court to review a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which found last month that construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is not likely to jeopardize protected fish, bats and mussels.

It was the latest in a string of lawsuits that have long delayed work on the 303-mile pipeline.

Also on Tuesday, the Sierra Club and 10 other environmental and conservation groups asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to stay its approval, one of several needed for the project to move forward.

In a letter seeking the stay, the groups contend that the biological opinion failed to adequately consider how fish would be affected by increased sedimentation caused by the steel pipe crossing hundreds of streams, or how the Indiana and northern long-eared bats would survive the clearing of forests they inhabit.

“These imperiled species are highly vulnerable to precisely the impacts that the Project would inflict,” Elly Benson, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club, wrote in the letter.

Work on the controversial pipeline was put on hold a year ago, after the same environmental groups filed a legal challenge to Fish and Wildlife’s first biological opinion, issued in 2017. After a nearly yearlong review, the agency last month issued its second approval — which was again challenged Tuesday.

Benson’s letter asked the agency to act on its request for a stay “as soon as possible,” as construction crews begin to mobilize along the pipeline’s route from northern West Virginia, through Southwest Virginia, to connect with an existing pipeline near the North Carolina line.

A spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service would only say that the request and court papers were under review. The Sept. 4 biological opinion was the first of three sets of permits — set aside by litigation filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — to be regained by Mountain Valley.

Three weeks later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to reissue permits allowing the buried pipeline to cross nearly 1,000 streams and wetlands, either by trenching through or boring under the water bodies. A legal challenge led by the Sierra Club quickly followed.

The 4th Circuit then temporarily stayed the stream-crossing permits while it considers the case.

In an email Tuesday, a Mountain Valley spokeswoman said the “comprehensive” biological opinion includes previously submitted and new data. The 200-plus page document exceeds regulatory requirements and addresses earlier issues raised by the court, Natalie Cox said.

“We are not surprised that the Sierra Club and other organizations filed this action, as more often than not their stated opposition is to the project itself rather than to specific details of the permits being challenged,” her email stated.

Mountain Valley has said it plans to have the pipeline finished by early next year. But if the biological opinion is stayed, it would encompass much more of the construction area than is covered by the other suspended permits. The stream crossings account for less than 10 miles of the 303-mile pipeline. And while the U.S. Forest Service has yet to rule on whether Mountain Valley can pass through the Jefferson National Forest, that segment is just 3.5 miles.

The Sierra Club’s letter says that In addition to bats and fish, two kinds of freshwater mussels — the clubshell and snuffbox — would be threatened.

Since the first opinion came out in 2017, the candy darter has been added to the list of endangered species. The environmental groups take issue with the conclusion that the colorful fish would not be hurt by boring under the Gauley River in West Virginia and Stony Creek in Giles County, among other things.

As for bats, the Fish and Wildlife Service improperly downplayed the effects of cutting down roost trees to clear a 125-foot-wide right of way for the pipeline, the letter states.

Joining the Sierra Club in Tuesday’s litigation were Appalachian Voices, Wild Virginia, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Preserve Giles County, Preserve Bent Mountain, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Indian Creek Watershed Association, Defenders of Wildlife, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Larger pipe size in steep terrain results in land slides and water pollution

News from the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, Update #282, June 25, 2020

The U.S. Forest Service has been cautioned that it should not depend upon the reliability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) developed in 2017 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the agency develops a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the project.

The Forest Service announced on June 11 that it was developing a SEIS in response to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ vacating of the Forest Service permit for the ACP. While one portion of that opinion (e.g. authority to grant the ACP the right to cross the Appalachian Trail) was overturned on June 15 by the U.S. Supreme Court, several deficiencies in the permit for the ACP are required to be remedied by the Forest Service before it can issue the ACP a new permit.

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) stated in a June 22 letter to the Forest Service:

The Forest Service cannot continue to rely on FERC’s obsolete FEIS. The original analyses of potential alternatives to the project and the environmental consequences of its risky and costly preferred route are in question. Significant, new and relevant information related to endangered and threatened species, water quality, landslides and slope failures, environmental justice communities, and climate change demonstrates the original analysis is stale and incapable of allowing effective review of the environmental consequences of the project. Meanwhile, the energy landscape of the region the ACP purports to serve also has transformed dramatically, the costs of the project have ballooned, and its timeline has been pushed back.

A motion was filed with FERC on May 30 by SELC, Appalachian Mountain Advocates and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation asking that FERC conduct an SEIS for the ACP to address significant new information bearing on the project’s environmental impacts.

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New Biological Assessment Filed With FERC, But Not Made Public

News from the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, Update #282, June 25, 2020

Dominion Energy Transmission, Inc. filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on June 22 a new Biological Assessment (BA) for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), but designated the information as “privileged and confidential” and thus not available to the public.

The new BA, which was developed in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), is a necessary step toward the issuance of a new Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement (BiOp/ITC) for the ACP, as required under the Endangered Species Act. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had previously twice vacated the BiOp/ITC for the ACP, which led to construction activity on the ACP being suspended in December 2018.

Southern Environmental law Center wrote FERC on June 24 requesting that a public version of the new BA be posted on the FERC docket within five business days (by June 30), in accordance with statutory requirements.

There is no environmental justice in such a large diameter pipeline on extremely steep mountain terrain

Update from the Southern Environmental Law Center, June 15, 2020

Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that limited the U.S. Forest Service’s authority to issue a permit to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The original ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals stated the Forest Service lacked authority to grant approval for Dominion and Duke Energy’s pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail on federal land. The Fourth Circuit also vacated the Forest Service permit on other grounds not addressed by today’s decision, and the pipeline still lacks that permit in addition to several other approvals required for construction.

“While today’s decision was not what we hoped for, it addresses only one of the many problems faced by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. This is not a viable project. It is still missing many required authorizations, including the Forest Service permit at issue in today’s case, and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will soon consider the mounting evidence that we never needed this pipeline to supply power. It’s time for these developers to move on and reinvest the billions of dollars planned for this boondoggle into the renewable energy that Virginia and North Carolina customers want and deserve,” said DJ Gerken, Southern Environmental Law Center Program Director.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes at the same time that the purported need for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, proposed in 2014, is receiving renewed scrutiny, as states are steering their energy economies away from fossil fuels. In March, Dominion Energy told Virginia regulators that the build out of new gas-fired power plants is no longer “viable” in the state, and the Virginia Clean Economy Act signed into law in April requires that the utility shut down all of its existing gas plants by 2045. North Carolina’s Clean Energy Plan calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants of 70% over 2005 levels by 2030 and total carbon neutrality by 2050.

“It’s been six years since this pipeline was proposed, we didn’t need it then and we certainly don’t need it now,” said Dick Brooks of the Cowpasture River Preservation. “Today’s decision doesn’t change the fact that Dominion chose a risky route through protected federal lands, steep mountains, and vulnerable communities.”

“This pipeline is putting our farmlands, our water and the livelihood of Virginians in jeopardy,” said Nancy Sorrells with Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, “And all for a pipeline that isn’t even in the public interest of Virginians.”

Meanwhile, the exorbitant price tag for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline continues to climb because of Dominion’s insistence on a harmful and risky route. Under these circumstances and at a time when the region is moving rapidly to 100% renewable energy, it’s unreasonable to expect customers to pay for this obsolete $8 billion fracked gas pipeline.

“With the ACP still lacking 8 permits, this decision is just plugging just one hole on a sinking ship,” said Kelly Martin, Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign. “Nothing in today’s ruling changes the fact that the fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a dirty, dangerous threat to our health, climate and communities, and nothing about the ruling changes our intention to fight it. From the day the ACP was proposed, the smart investment for Dominion and Duke would have been clean, renewable energy sources, and with the project billions of dollars over budget, that’s even more true today. Despite this ruling on one narrow question, economics, common sense, and public opinion are still squarely against the ACP.”

Among the permits in question for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are:

@ — Endangered Species Act permit (Biological Opinion) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

@ — Special use permit and right-of-way grant from the U.S. Forest Service

@ — Right-of-way permit from the National Park Service

@ — Virginia air pollution permit for the Union Hill compressor station

@ — Four Clean Water Act authorizations from the Army Corps of Engineers for Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina

@ — The Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s central permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is under review in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and arguments are expected later this year. The case will determine if FERC correctly determined that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was needed to fuel gas-fired power plants when it approved the project in 2017.

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About the Southern Environmental Law Center

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. For more info see the following: www.SouthernEnvironment.org

About the Sierra Club of the United States

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.8 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

ACP extends from WV to VA & NC, may not be needed

From an Article by Maya Weber, S & P Global — Platts, June 1, 2020

Washington — A coalition of environmental groups opened June 1 a new front in their legal war against the 600-mile, 1.5 Bcf/d Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, contending that a supplemental environmental impact statement is needed.

The action comes as lead developer Dominion Energy already is laboring to get the project back into construction after a series of legal setbacks. For instance, it is hoping for a positive US Supreme Court decision soon to help reinstate permission vacated by a federal circuit court for the pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail.

The project is intended to move Appalachian natural gas to mid-Atlantic markets.

Should the developer prevail in the Supreme Court, it faces a possible new avenue of litigation in the form of a roughly 4,000-page filing posted on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s website June 1 by Southern Environmental Law Center, Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Chesapeake Bay Foundation on behalf of a coalition of conservation groups.

The groups argued in the filing that a supplemental EIS is needed in light of new information that has come to light since FERC issued an EIS for the pipeline project in 2017, and given upcoming FERC decisions on key matters such as whether to extend certificate authorization for the project beyond the October expiration date and whether to lift FERC’s existing stop-work order on construction.

Part of the groups’ rationale for a new review is that the region’s energy infrastructure has undergone a dramatic shift away from gas-fired power, while the cost of the pipeline has ballooned.

“In January 2020, Virginia — the site of over half of the ACP’s proposed route — told the Supreme Court that in light of the mounting evidence that the pipeline is not needed, the ACP threatens Virginia’s natural resources without clear corresponding benefits,” they wrote.

New data for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commission (FERC)

And they said new information has come to light that they contended must be considered under the National Environmental Policy Act, involving endangered species along the pipeline route, expanded scientific information about climate change, and changing circumstances related to cumulative impacts from projects in the area.

In addition, they argued there have been substantial erosion, sedimentation and slope failures since 2017 along the ACP route and other pipelines in mountainous terrain, undermining FERC’s conclusions about effectiveness of mitigation in its documents. In light of the recently narrowed definition of waters of the US, some water bodies crossed by the project, including wetlands, may be at greater risk if permitting authorities no longer consider them within the purview of the Clean Water Act, they said.

Large long pipelines in steep terrain cause sediment & water pollution

Dominion Energy response to filings

In response to the filing, Dominion spokeswoman Ann Nallo said many of the concerns raised by the environmental groups already have been addressed publicly and others are being addressed through ongoing permitting processes with the agencies.

For example, ACP is working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on a new biological opinion that will include the most up-to-date information on the impacted species.

The project is needed more than ever for the region’s economy and path to clean energy, she argued.

“The ACP will also support our region’s transition from coal and the rapid expansion of renewables, both of which are essential to Dominion Energy’s and Duke Energy’s plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” she said.

ClearView Energy Partners, in a research note, said it expects the Supreme Court to remove one obstacle to the Appalachian Trail crossing but emphasized that others remained for the project. ClearView suggested the environmental groups may be preparing to ask the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to stay FERC’s certificate authorization when the court brings a legal challenge related to the FERC authorization out of abeyance.

“Given the strong consensus that the Supreme Court may reverse the 4th Circuit, we see this call to issue a supplemental EIS as another avenue through which the project’s opponents intend to delay, if not try to halt, the project altogether.”

Virginia Tech team studies stream impacts

From an Article by Laurence Hammack, Roanoke Times, March 27, 2020

A winter hiatus in construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline will last well into the spring. The latest delay came this week, with word that two federal agencies will take another month to review one of several approvals — set aside by legal challenges from environmental groups — that must be restored before work can ramp up on the highly disputed natural gas pipeline.

Thursday, March 26th had been the deadline for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to finish their reconsideration of the project’s impact on endangered or threatened species of fish and bats.

But in a letter Wednesday to FERC, the Fish and Wildlife Service said the agencies and Mountain Valley had agreed to take another 32 days, pushing the completion date to April 27. It was the third such delay since December, when the review was originally set to be completed.

Despite the slow process with that and two other sets of suspended permits, the joint venture of five energy companies says it still plans to finish the 303-mile pipeline by the end of this year.

“Mountain Valley will continue to work diligently to obtain all necessary permits to complete construction of this vital infrastructure,” company attorney Matthew Eggerding wrote this week in a letter to FERC.

Since work began two years ago on the $5.5 billion project, regulatory agencies in Virginia and West Virginia have cited Mountain Valley for repeatedly violating erosion and sediment control regulations along the pipeline’s 303-mile path.

Other environmental problems, raised in legal challenges by the Sierra Club and other groups, have led to the suspension of three sets of permits: for the buried pipe to pass through the Jefferson National Forest, under more than 1,000 streams and wetlands in the two Virginias, and into the habitat of endangered species without causing them undue harm.

Last October, FERC ordered that all active construction be halted pending a review of a biological opinion, issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017, that found the pipeline would not significantly jeopardize protected fish and bats.

Candy Darter — Photo of Blue Ridge Outdoor magazine

“The additional time is also needed to allow the Service and the applicant to ensure that any additional information needs have been addressed,” field supervisor Cindy Schulz wrote in the letter to FERC.

When construction was halted last year, Mountain Valley was allowed to stabilize some work sites and maintain erosion control over the pipeline’s entire length from northern West Virginia to Chatham, near the North Carolina line.

Attorneys for the Sierra Club, which challenged the biological opinion and a second permit that allowed limited harm to protected species, have argued that the company is continuing active construction in a “steamrolling” attempt to finish the project.

“The measures currently in place are failing to protect endangered species from severe habitat degradation,” attorney Elly Benson wrote in a Nov. 5 letter filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court has put on hold a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups until the review of the biological opinion is completed. Meanwhile, other agencies are continuing their court-ordered reconsideration of permits for the pipeline to cross the national forest and streams and rivers.

According to Height Capital Markets, an investment banking firm that has been following the project, delaying the endangered species case until April 27 is not expected to change Mountain Valley’s completion goal of late this year.

Map from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 18, 2015

From the Allegheny – Blue Ridge Alliance, ABRA Update #257, December 19, 2019

Efforts by Dominion Energy to convince Congress to approve having the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) cross the Appalachian National Scenic Trail have not yielded results.

For most of the past year Dominion has been seeking to have a rider added to other legislation that would, in effect, overturn the decision of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that vacated the permit for the ACP issued by the U.S. Forest Service.

Within the past week, two prominent bills that were believed to be possible vehicles for the Dominion amendment – the National Defense Authorization Act and the continuing resolution funding the Federal Government –passed without language addressing the AT issue.

For now, the issue remains pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear arguments on an appeal of the Fourth Circuit decision on the case (U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et. al.) on February 24. A decision on the case is anticipated to be announced in June.

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Dominion still sees U.S. Atlantic Coast natgas pipe online in 2022 despite Morgan Stanley’s doubts

From an Article by Scott DiSavino, Reuters News Service, December 16, 2019

(Reuters) – Dominion Energy Inc said on Monday it was confident it will complete the proposed $7.3-$7.8 billion Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina by early 2022, in response to a prediction by investment bank Morgan Stanley that a court decision would likely scuttle the project.

“We remain committed to completing the project for the good of our economy and the environment,” Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby said, noting the company expected to complete construction in late 2021 with final in-service in early 2022.

Dominion made its comments after Morgan Stanley said in a report that “Atlantic Coast will likely not be completed given the Fourth Circuit’s likely (in the bank’s view) rejection, for the third time, of a newly issued Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement that we expect to come by the first quarter of 2020.”

In July, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) second Biological Opinion because the court found the agency’s decisions were arbitrary and would jeopardize the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee and other endangered species.

Federal agencies use Biological Opinions when authorizing projects that could adversely affect threatened or endangered species or critical habitats, and issue take statements to limit the number of those species that could be harmed. Ruby said Dominion expects the FWS will issue a new Biological Opinion in the first half of 2020.

Dominion suspended construction of the 600-mile (966-kilometer) project in December 2018 after the Fourth Circuit stayed the FWS’ second Biological Opinion.

Dominion and its partners, Duke Energy Corp and Southern Co., are also working through a dispute over where the pipeline can cross the Appalachian Trail. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the Appalachian Trail case, which is also important for the construction of EQM Midstream Partners LP’s Mountain Valley gas pipe from West Virginia to Virginia.

The Supreme Court may issue a ruling in May or June 2020. So, the Appalachian Trail dispute may be resolved by a Supreme Court decision or an administrative or legislative solution.

A route revision was the likely compromise for the endangered species dispute but noted that could boost the project’s costs to around $8 billion and push completion into 2022.

When Dominion started work on the 1.5 billion cubic feet per day pipe in the spring of 2018, the company estimated it would cost $6.0-$6.5 billion and be completed in late 2019.

FERC halts MVP in WV & VA

Press Release from Doug Jackson (Sierra Club), Cat McCue (Appalachian Voices), and Jared Margolis (Center for Biological Diversity), 10/16/2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Late yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC to halt construction activities along the entire 303-mile route of the fracked-gas project. FERC’s order is in response to the project losing key permits under the Endangered Species Act, and allows MVP to do only the work necessary to stabilize the right-of-way in previously disturbed areas. This represents a significant challenge to a project that is already facing numerous hurdles and self-inflicted wounds, including the announcements last week that MVP must pay a multi-million dollar fine and had two of their necessary permits revoked.

However, FERC’s action falls short of its enforcement responsibilities in two crucial areas: FERC leaves it up to MVP to define what they consider “stabilization,” and FERC appears to allow MVP to self-regulate on whether such activities would harass, harm, or kill endangered species. MVP has already shown they will try to get around a construction suspension by defining some pipeline construction activities as necessary for stabilization, and this order appears to allow MVP to determine for themselves the extent to which these activities continue to harm endangered species.

The project has been controversial since it was first announced, and a petition against it and the nearby Atlantic Coast Pipeline launched just two months ago has already garnered more than 75,000 signatures.

Elly Benson, Senior Attorney with the Sierra Club:

“MVP has repeatedly violated environmental safeguards, clean water protections, and plain common sense in their construction of this fracked gas pipeline. We have known all along that their plans for this pipeline are disastrous for the endangered species, streams, and communities in its path, and we’re glad to see FERC finally order them to stop construction along the entire route. However, FERC must not allow MVP to continue installing pipeline under the guise of stabilization, as MVP has been doing under the limited suspension put in place in August.

“We know we can’t trust the polluting corporations behind this dirty, dangerous pipeline to do what’s best for wildlife, the climate, or our communities, so FERC must not allow MVP to determine the extent to which their work continues to harm endangered species. Letting MVP self-police on defining ‘stabilization’ and harming endangered species is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse – it’s an abdication of FERC’s responsibilities.”

David Sligh, Conservation Director for Wild Virginia:

“The command that Mountain Valley cease all construction immediately is appropriate and necessary to meet the law. However, FERC has previously allowed work that is clearly construction to be done under the guise that it is ‘stabilization.’ The Commission must now act responsibly and clearly prohibit all activities that are not absolutely necessary to protect the environment. FERC must no longer play deceptive games that allow further destruction from a project that cannot protect our resources and may never be completed.”

Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network:

“As we’ve said all along, MVP must stop all construction on this project before even more damage is done. We’re glad to see FERC implement the court’s decision and order an immediate stop to construction. We further urge the Commission to make it absolutely clear that construction under the guise of stabilization will not be allowed.”

Peter Anderson, Virginia Program Manager, Appalachian Voices:

“FERC’s order to cease Mountain Valley Pipeline construction is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t undo the harm that has been wrought over the past year and a half, as water resources, forests, farms and habitat have been destroyed by illegal construction practices. FERC should not trust MVP to interpret what is appropriate ‘stabilization’ for this unnecessary project; it is in the developer’s interest to keep plowing ahead. Rather, FERC must comply with the Endangered Species Act and ensure MVP does not harm any listed species.”

Jason Rylander, Senior Endangered Species Counsel, Defenders of Wildlife:

“FERC’s stop work order is welcome news, but the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline should never have been approved without rigorous review of the impacts of this environmentally damaging project on local people, wildlife, and the climate. Fast tracking projects like this is always a mistake and now the chickens are coming home to roost.”

Roberta Bondurant, member of Preserve Bent Mountain:

“The public deserves FERC’s exacting and credible review of MVP’s status report and any continuing activity on the right of way. Monitors will continue to vigilantly report MVP activity — whether or not in the guise of ‘stabilization’ — that degrades habitat of threatened and endangered species or is otherwise outside FERC and Fourth Circuit directives.”

Jared Margolis, Senior Attorney, Center for Biological Diversity:

“We’re relieved pipeline construction is stopped for now, but this climate and wildlife killing project should be permanently scrapped. A polluting fossil fuel pipeline has no place in today’s world.”

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UPDATE from Progress Not Pipelines

Last week, the Virginia attorney general secured a $2.15 million settlement against the MVP pipeline company for more than 300 violations of state water quality requirements.

But, we must keep the pressure on. FERC must stop this pipeline once and for all, and also stop the fracked-gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would run some 600 miles through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina over the beloved Blue Ridge Mountains, through farms, wildlife habitat and water supplies. Both projects would worsen the impacts of climate change.

Please keep sharing our petition with your friends, neighbors and community — which currently has over 75,000 signatures.

And THANK YOU!