After six years of protest by environmentalists, landowners, and justice organizations, the companies say court challenges prevent them from moving forward. Chesapeake Climate Action Network was proud to help lead the opposition within days of the original pipeline announcement in September 2014
WASHINGTON, DC – Media reports today confirm that Dominion Energy and Duke Energy Corporation are finally abandoning the hugely controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The pipeline would have shipped fracked gas from West Virginia, through Virginia and into the Carolinas, while destroying critical forest habitat, farmland, human communities, and worsening climate change.
STATEMENT FROM MIKE TIDWELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CHESAPEAKE CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK:
“Just one day after July 4th, America is stunningly closer to true energy independence with the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The fossil fuel era is rapidly drawing to a close in Virginia and nationwide thanks to the ferocious six-year opposition to this destructive pipeline. That opposition was waged by environmentalists, farmers, justice groups and common residents across the region.
“This pipeline was a boondoggle from the moment it was announced by Dominion CEO Tom Farrell and then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in September 2014. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is proud to have been one of the first statewide environment groups to take up this cause, to organize our supporters, and to protest with everything from letters to the editor to civil disobedience.
“We want to thank all our partners in this long struggle. They include, but are not limited to, Friends of Buckingham, Friends of Nelson, Wild Virginia, Rick Webb, David Sligh, the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, Lewis Freeman, Bill and Lynn Limpert, Appalachian Voices, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Southern Environmental Law Center, Pastor Paul Wilson, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, Virginia Conservation Network, and so many more. Special thanks to current and past CCAN staff and board members who put everything they had – for years! – into stopping this pipeline. We never gave up!”
CONTACT:
Mike Tidwell, Director, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, 608-320-6582, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org
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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 17 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. To learn more, visit www.chesapeakeclimate.org
Learn more: No New Pipelines in Virginia
