.... 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