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.”

McAuliffe: Virginia will regulate carbon emissions; ‘the threat of climate change is real’

From an Article by Robert Zullo, Richmond Times – Dispatch, May 16, 2017

Gov. Terry McAuliffe today directed the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to begin assembling regulations to reduce carbon emissions from Virginia power plants, a move that was celebrated by environmentalists and renewable energy businesses who see the state as a laggard when it comes to solar and wind capacity and energy-efficiency programs.

Virginia Republicans, however, condemned the Democratic governor’s carbon directive as overreach that would raise electric prices and hamper economic growth.

“The threat of climate change is real, and we have a shared responsibility to confront it. Once approved, this regulation will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from the commonwealth’s power plants and give rise to the next generation of energy jobs,” the governor said in a statement. “As the federal government abdicates its role on this important issue, it is critical for states to fill the void. Beginning today, Virginia will lead the way to cut carbon and lean in on the clean-energy future.”

Though it does not lay out the 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 that environmental groups wanted, McAuliffe’s executive directive instructs the DEQ to develop a proposed regulation for the State Air Pollution Control Board to abate, control or limit carbon dioxide from power plants that will “allow for the use of market-based mechanisms and the trading of carbon dioxide allowances through a multi-state trading program.” The proposed regulation is due to be presented to the board by Dec. 31, just before McAuliffe leaves office.

Last summer, McAuliffe convened by executive order a working group consisting of cabinet officials and leaders of the state Department of Environmental Quality and Department Mines, Minerals and Energy to develop recommendations on cutting carbon from power plants. The market-based carbon trading aspect was a key component of the group’s report, which was sent to the governor last week.

Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility, has recently pointed to its own emission reductions, a push toward developing new solar installations and acceptance of carbon regulation as “settled public policy.”

“Dominion has been preparing for carbon regulation for some time now and appreciates being a part of the stakeholder engagement process,” spokesman David Botkins said, adding that the company’s two new gas-fired power plants in Brunswick and Greensville counties are subject to some of the strictest carbon-dioxide limits “on record.”

Environmental groups, who were some of the largest contributors to his 2013 campaign, hailed McAuliffe’s move as strong climate leadership in the face of a March executive order by President Donald Trump aimed at unwinding the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama’s signature regulation aimed at cutting emissions from power plants. Trump’s order was seen as a death blow for the plan, which has been stalled in federal courts.

“This bold action demonstrates that when Washington fumbles and falls, with the right leadership, the states can lead,” said attorney Will Cleveland of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. “Hopefully Gov. McAuliffe’s actions today will inspire policymakers in other states to follow a similar course.”

The Virginia Conservation Network, a consortium of more than 100 environmental groups that includes the law center as well as the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, called McAuliffe’s directive “the largest step taken in the United States to tackle climate change since President Trump took office.”

“Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, especially when it comes to its devastating impacts on Virginia’s most vulnerable communities,” said Mary Rafferty, the network’s executive director. “It is imperative that every level of government steps up to be a part of the solution.”

The Republican Party of Virginia, however, was less impressed. “Governor McAuliffe’s executive order is the worst kind of virtue signaling,” spokesman David D’Onofrio said. He criticized Obama’s Clean Power Plan as an expensive and ineffectual measure that he said would have reduced global temperatures by .015 degrees while increasing electricity costs by billions.

“If reducing emissions for the entire country gets .015 degrees, how much less would a Virginia-only plan do? D’Onofrio said. “Meanwhile the free market has led to significant year-over-year reduction in CO2 emissions in the U.S. Terry McAuliffe’s decision to ”resist’ common-sense environmental policy will drive up prices for consumers, cost Virginians jobs and make it even more difficult to grow our economy.”

Environmentalists argued that the final Clean Power Plan rule was too soft on Virginia and that opponents greatly overstated the cost of compliance. Dominion itself filed a legal brief in support of the plan, saying that “effects on power plants and customers can be successfully managed” provided that the rule allows market-based compliance measures, such as emissions trading, and allowed states to create flexible timelines.

“The rule is compatible with long-term industry trends influenced by market conditions and prior environmental regulations,” the company wrote.

Channing Martin, chairman of law firm Williams Mullen’s environmental and natural resources section, called the directive an aggressive move for the final year of McAuliffe’s term. “They’re going to have to get cracking to get that thing done,” he said. “It will be a significant rulemaking and it is no question going to be challenged at every opportunity.”

And though Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued an opinion last week that the air board can regulate carbon under its existing authority, Martin predicts that the issue will surface again.

“The question will be does the board on its own have the ability to promulgate these regulations or does the General Assembly have to pass legislation to authorize it?” he said. “There’s going to be many parties participating in it and it’s going to result in litigation. If any regulations get enacted it will be after the governor leaves office.”

Virginia House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, who is retiring, said McAuliffe’s directive is “a broad assertion of regulatory authority, Washington-esque in both its nature and scope” that ignores the legislative process.

Protect Our National Forests

The Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition has filed a request with VA Gov. McAuliffe for documents on the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines

Letter by Rick Webb, Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, December 10, 2015

The request, filed under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), asks for all pipeline-related documents in the Governor’s Office that have been sent between Virginia state agencies and the Governor’s office and any sent between companies associated with the two pipeline proposals and the Governor. (see DPMC FOIA Request, 11/9/15)

The Roanoke Times recently reported that Governor McAuliffe “wants state agencies to brief his office before department employees comment publicly” about the natural gas pipeline projects (see November 2015 article). That report sparked citizen concerns that essential findings and opinions from scientific and regulatory experts in Virginia government may not reach the public or may be changed before release. The fact that the Governor joined Dominion Power officials to tout the Atlantic Coast Pipeline before any State environmental or safety reviews could be begun, let alone be completed, heightened these citizen concerns.

David Sligh, a Senior Regulatory Systems Investigator with DPMC, who filed the request with Governor McAuliffe, wrote “[w]e and the many thousands of individuals, along with numerous organizations and local government bodies who have serious concerns about the ways these pipelines would affect communities and the environment depend on you to protect our interests but also accept the responsibility to be vigilant and involved actors in public decisional processes. We know that you support our rights to do so and trust you will act to allow us to exercise those rights.”

The Virginia General Assembly, in enacting the FOIA, wrote that “[t]he affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government” and they stated a goal “to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities and afford every opportunity to citizens to witness the operations of government.”

If provided the information requested, DPMC will use it to play our proper role in our government and will make it available to our fellow Virginians. We ask now that the Governor work with us to “promote an increased awareness” in the State’s activities related to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

We ask the Governor to provide access to all of the requested information, and to live up to commitments he made before taking office. As Governor-elect, Mr. McAuliffe pledged to set “a new standard of ‘transparent, accountable, state government that is beholden only to the taxpayers who fund it . . . . Virginians should never have to question who their leaders are putting first.”

Rick Webb, Coordinator, Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition

Contact: rwebb.dpmc@gmail.com

See also: http://pipelineupdate.org/