McAuliffe officials reverse promise on pipelines. Time to act.

Seven weeks ago, we applauded the McAuliffe Administration’s announcement that it would conduct thorough, site-specific reviews of the impacts that the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines would have on water quality. After years of public pressure, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was finally planning to give these massive pipelines the thorough environmental review they deserve.
On Wednesday, DEQ abandoned that promise. 
The agency says it made a mistake. It was never planning to look at the pipelines’ impacts to Virginia streams, DEQ now says. Instead, the agency wants to abdicate that responsibility to President Trump’s Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected to issue a blanket one-size-fits-all permit that does not look at each individual stream crossing, and therefore does not fully protect these water bodies.
This is Gov. McAuliffe’s responsibility! DEQ works for him. Tell McAuliffe the state MUST do more to protect VA’s waterways.
Back in April, the DEQ was unequivocal. We will look “at each wetland, stream crossing … separately, to determine specific requirements that would be necessary” to protect Virginia waterways, a DEQ spokesperson told the Roanoke Times.
This was hopeful news. If the DEQ carries out thorough, site-specific reviews, we believe it will have had no choice but to reject these disastrous pipelines. There’s no doubt that building the pipelines across steep, well-watered, forested mountain landscapes will harm water resources, including heavy sedimentation of streams, alteration of runoff patterns and stream channels, disturbance of groundwater flow, and damage to springs and water supplies.

The Army Corps process does not involve site-specific analyses. We have no confidence that the Corps’ permit will be sufficient for such a complex project across the state’s steepest mountains. The DEQ is evading its responsibility to conduct thorough reviews of all threats to water quality posed by these pipeline projects.
The state must do more to protect Virginia’s waterways from pipelines. Call McAuliffe today.
 

Victims Of Mountaintop Removal From Dominion’s Proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline Speak Out In Front of Governor McAuliffe’s Office

Following news that Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline would obliterate 38 miles of ridgelines in Virginia and West Virginia, several severely impacted residents and business owners spoke at a Richmond press conference detailing their concerns and calling on McAuliffe to reject the pipeline.

RICHMOND, VA — Virginia residents whose lives and property would be destroyed by mountaintop removal — triggered by Dominion Resources’ proposed fracked-gas pipeline — spoke out at a press conference today outside Governor Terry McAuliffe’s office. They demanded the Governor use his full legal authority to stop Dominion’s plan to explode entire ridgetops along 38 miles of mountains to build the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

According to a new briefing paper, Dominion Resources intends to blast away, excavate, and partially remove entire ridgetops along 38 miles of Appalachian mountains as part of the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Similar impacts – although not yet fully inventoried – are expected to come from the construction of a second pipeline to the south: the Mountain Valley Pipeline led by the company EQT.

During the press conference, speakers demanded the Governor use his regulatory power to halt both proposed pipelines. They detailed how their communities will be directly impacted by the shattered ridgelines that will come with the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. They explained how the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would force businesses to close, lower property values, and harm the tourism economy. Additionally, they detailed how the pipeline would cause irrevocable harms to the natural environment, and increase the threats of water pollution and landslides.

“The proposed pipeline has been a 24/7 nightmare for my wife and I since we first learned of it,” said Bill Limpert, retired environmental regulator and property owner Little Valley, Bath County. “The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would cut our property in half. Then it would leave an 125-foot-wide scar for 3,000 feet along Miracle Ridge, which is now covered by old growth forest — some of it never cut. It would lower our property value by at least 50 percent, and our property would become a toxic asset. It would also leave us well within the blast zone of the pipeline, and we — and a number of our neighbors — are trapped at the head of Little Valley in the evacuation zone with no chance of escape or rescue in a pipeline accident. We would be forced to abandon our retirement home and property if the pipeline is constructed as proposed. We simply cannot live next to this dangerous pipeline or witness the destruction it would bring upon our property, and we will not relent in fighting it with everything we have.”

Engineering and policy experts have examined documents submitted by Dominion to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and, using GIS mapping software, found that Dominion would require mountaintops to be “reduced” by 10 to 60 feet along the proposed route of the pipeline. For perspective, the height equivalent of a five-story building would be erased in places from fully forested and ancient mountains.

In addition to the expected mountaintop removal, Dominion has yet to reveal how it intends to dispose of at least 247,000 dump-truck-loads of excess rock and soil—known as “overburden”—that would accumulate from the construction along just these 38 miles of ridgetops.

Nancy McMoneagle, President and Executive Director of The Monroe Institute, stated: “The Monroe Institute has done business in Nelson County since 1979, contributing almost $2 million annually to Nelson County’s economy, employing around 50 staff and service contractors. If the Atlantic Coast Pipeline comes through Institute property as is now projected, our operations would be decimated, all these jobs would be lost, and thousands of our customers throughout the world would be left without our services.”

Dominion has submitted a proposal to FERC to build a 42-inch diameter pipeline that would transport natural gas from West Virginia into Virginia and North Carolina. Dominion has attempted to paint the Atlantic Coast Pipeline as an “environmentally-friendly” project. However, its proposed construction method and route selection across and along steep mountains is unprecedented for the region—if not the country—and is viewed as extreme and radical by landowners, conservationists, and engineers. Similar impacts – although not yet fully inventoried – could come from the construction of a second pipeline to the south: the Mountain Valley Pipeline led by the company EQT Midstream Partners, LP.

“Dominion is taking our land in order to destroy the mountain ridge directly over our home,” said Joseph W. McMoneagle, President of the New Land Home Owners Association. “Blasting on Roberts Mountain will destroy this mountain’s stability, and permanently disrupt the delicate underground water supply to more than half a dozen homes in our subdivision. Stripping old growth trees and underbrush will open the mountain ridge to heavy erosion, and future mud and landslides that will overrun our natural mountain springs and streams. Most of our residents are over age sixty, so we have a frequent need for emergency vehicles traveling unhindered in and out of our valley. Because our roads are excessively narrow and steep, it will be impossible to pass Dominion’s pipeline construction trucks during one of those emergencies. Altering our roads will be taking our land without the excuse of a pipeline. I ask the Governor to put an immediate stop to this nonsense before someone is seriously hurt.”

The full briefing paper is available here.

###

Contact:

Denise Robbins, 240-396-2022, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org

Anne Havemann, 240-396-1984, anne@chesapeakeclimate.org

Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline Would Require Extensive Mountaintop Removal

New research exposes how Dominion’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline would decapitate 38 miles of ridgelines in Virginia and West Virginia. Evidence will show project is OPPOSITE of “environmentally friendly” and states must reject it

RICHMOND, VA — A briefing paper released today details how Dominion Resources intends to blast away, excavate, and partially remove entire mountaintops along 38 miles of Appalachian ridgelines as part of the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Engineering and policy experts have examined documents submitted by Dominion to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and, using GIS mapping software, found that Dominion would require mountaintops to be “reduced” by 10 to 60 feet along the proposed route of the pipeline. For perspective, the height equivalent of a five-story building would be erased in places from fully forested and ancient mountains.
Furthermore, Dominion has yet to reveal how it intends to dispose of at least 247,000 dump-truck-loads of excess rock and soil—known as “overburden”—that would accumulate from the construction along just these 38 miles of ridgetops.
“In light of the discovery that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will cause 10 to 60 feet of mountaintops to be removed from 38 miles of Appalachian ridges, there is nothing left to debate,” said Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Dominion’s pipeline will cause irrevocable harm to the region’s environmental resources. With Clean Water Act certifications pending in both Virginia and West Virginia, we call on Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice to reject this destructive pipeline.”
Dominion has submitted a proposal to FERC to build a 42-inch diameter pipeline that would transport natural gas from West Virginia into Virginia and North Carolina. Dominion has attempted to paint the Atlantic Coast Pipeline as an “environmentally-friendly” project. However, its proposed construction method and route selection across and along steep mountains is unprecedented for the region—if not the country—and is viewed as extreme and radical by landowners, conservationists, and engineers. Similar impacts – although not yet fully inventoried – could come from the construction of a second pipeline to the south: the Mountain Valley Pipeline led by the company EQT Midstream Partners, LP.
“The Atlantic Coast Pipeline could easily prove itself deadly,” said Joyce Burton, Board Member of Friends of Nelson. “Many of the slopes along the right of way are significantly steeper than a black diamond ski slope. Both FERC and Dominion concede that constructing pipelines on these steep slopes can increase the potential for landslides, yet they still have not demonstrated how they propose to protect us from this risk. With all of this, it is clear that this pipeline is a recipe for disaster.”
The briefing paper released today was prepared by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network in coordination with the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, Friends of Nelson, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, and the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition. It cites data from the Draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Federal Energy Regulatory Council (FERC) as well as  information supplied to FERC by Dominion. It also compiles information from GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping software and independent reports prepared by engineers and soil scientists.
Key findings include:

  • Approximately 38 miles of mountains in West Virginia and Virginia will see 10 feet or more of their ridgetops removed in order to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
  • This figure includes 19 miles in West Virginia and 19 miles in Virginia.
  • The majority of these mountains would be flattened by 10 to 20 feet, with some places along the route requiring the removal of 60 feet or more of ridgetop.
  • Building the ACP on top of these mountains will result in a tremendous quantity of excess material, known to those familiar with mountaintop removal as “overburden.”
  • Dominion would likely need to dispose of 2.47 million cubic yards of overburden, from just these 38 miles alone.
  • Standard-size, fully loaded dump trucks would need to take at least 247,000 trips to haul this material away from the construction site.

“It is astounding that FERC has not required Dominion to produce a plan for dealing with the millions of cubic yards of excess spoil that will result from cutting down miles of ridgetop for the pipeline,” said Ben Luckett, Staff Attorney at Appalachian Mountain Advocates. “We know from experience with mountaintop removal coal mining that the disposal of this material has devastating impacts on the headwater streams that are the lifeblood our rivers and lakes. FERC and Dominion’s complete failure to address this issue creates a significant risk that the excess material will ultimately end up in our waterways, smothering aquatic life and otherwise degrading water quality. Without an in-depth analysis of exactly how much spoil will be created and how it can be safely disposed of, the states cannot possibly certify that this pipeline project will comply with the Clean Water Act.”
“Even with Dominion’s refusal to provide the public with adequate information, the situation is clear: The proposed construction plan will have massive impacts to scenic vistas, terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and potentially to worker and resident safety,” said Dan Shaffer, Spatial Analyst with the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition. “There is no way around it. It’s a bad route, a bad plan, and should never have been seriously considered.”
The full briefing paper is available here.
CONTACT:
Denise, 240-396-2022, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org
Anne Havemann, 240-396-1984, anne@chesapeakeclimate.org
Briefing-Paper-Mountaintop-Removal-to-Build-ACP
 

The Peoples Climate March is Red, White, and Blue

Guest post by Rick Shingles, member of Preserve Giles County
—
On April 29, I plan to travel more than 500 miles to Washington D.C. for the Peoples’ Climate Mobilization. For me, marching is about more than politics, more than ideology.
For me, the issue is deeply personal.
The fossil fuel industry threatens my community in southwest Virginia. The proposed fracked-gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is routed to bisect Newport which sits in the middle of the active Giles County seismic zone in the midst of the Appalachian fold belt. This 42-inch diameter pipeline would carve through steep ridges and karst valleys in some of the most pristine natural habitat and biodiversity in the world.
Our natural heritage, endangered species, aquifers (the primary source of our farm and residential water), safety from catastrophe like the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, peace of mind, property values and property rights are all at risk.
Our town is just one casualty of a vast fracked-gas pipelines infrastructure either built or planned. There are 9,000 miles of new oil and gas pipelines proposed in the U.S. with 19 (including the MVP and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline) in Appalachia alone. And tens of thousands of homes and businesses are being sacrificed to supply the product these pipelines transport: fracked methane, an even more lethal greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Multiple perils accompany every stage of hydraulic fracturing: the toxic mix of chemicals used to induce it, the dispersal and storage of waste water which can poison drinkable water and soils, seismic activity, methane leaks at every stage of production and distribution, and the destruction of green economies.
A Roanoke Times editorial presents my county as a model for developing outdoor recreational economies. Yet our economy is imperiled by the MVP. The pipeline would cross tributaries of the New River (some multiple times). It would block access to Mountain Lake and the Cascades during the construction. And the Jefferson National Forest could become split by a 500-foot wide utility corridor.
All of this could upend fifteen years of collaboration by local businesses and county government to build a tourism economy that currently provides $26 million in annual business revenue, 16% of our sales tax, $90,000 in transient occupancy taxes and two percent of total tax revenue. That is a lot for a sparsely settled, rural county. We don’t want it trashed by an interstate pipeline ally.
Why should so many American communities be sacrifice zones to supply this fuel to other nations, a good number of which ban fracking?
That’s why I’m going to march in Washington.
I will support Americans in all communities that are being sacrificed to supply fracked gas.
And for what? For continued reliance on antiquated twentieth century energy sources that are increasingly unnecessary, less plentiful and more expensive than wind, solar, hydraulic, and tidal power?
I am going to fight for greater regulation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that appears controlled by the very gas and oil industry it is supposed to regulate, approves any and all interstate pipeline applications, grants private companies eminent domain to take our land, and runs roughshod over state and local governments.
I am going for my children and grandchildren – to preserve a natural heritage threatened by our addiction to fossil fuels, to help stave off rising seas and coastal flooding and the fundamental alteration of inland climates that underlie many traditional industries (See Stephen Nash’s Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming will Transform Out Cities, Shorelines, and Forests). Climate disruption could well lead to unprecedented mass migrations and economic, social and political instability that could destabilize governments and exacerbate international conflicts.
The dire threats posed by climate disruption should not be partisan issues, red-states versus blue-states, or framed by ideologues of the left or the right.
I will journey to Washington understanding that each of us must look to ourselves first to protect our communities, preserve our natural heritage and safeguard our progeny. If we fail, I will not solely blame any particular individual or political party or politicians in general. Each citizen has the responsibility to reduce his or her own environmental footprint and to fulfill the obligation of democratic citizenship. We must act to hold our leaders accountable. We must take direct action.
I accept this responsibility.
One day, I hope to tell my grandchildren that I – with millions of others – met this singular challenge and became this nation’s greatest generation.

Rick Shingles is associate professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and coordinator of Preserve Giles County.

Federal Review of Atlantic Coast Pipeline Fails People and the Environment

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s flawed analysis of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline fails the public and the environment.
An analysis of environmental impacts for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline is completely inadequate and falls far short of legal requirements.  This is the overwhelming consensus of thousands of comments filed this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  The agency had issued on December 30 a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the proposed 600-mile natural gas pipeline that would go from central West Virginia, through Virginia and terminate in southern North Carolina.  April 6 is the deadline for public comments.
“FERC’s inability to provide a sound analysis of this project is a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act,” said Lewis Freeman, Chair and Executive Director of the Alleghany-Blue Ridge Alliance, a coalition of 51-organizations opposing the project. “What’s more, the Commission is poised to make a decision that will reverberate for decades based on inadequate information.”
The shortcomings of the DEIS are considerable because of its failure to:

  • Assess the true market demand for natural gas in the region of the proposed pipeline;
  • Take a hard look at the effects the proposed route planned through predominantly minority and low-income neighborhoods would have on communities;
  • Consider the devastation to mountaintops construction would have across steep, forested Appalachian ridges;
  • Provide adequate environmental information. The DEIS lacks sufficient information about the ACP and its potential environmental impacts on a wide variety of resources, including water resources, wetlands, cultural resources, threatened and endangered species and climate change implications; and
  • Identify, consider, and analyze all reasonable alternatives.

“The federal government is glossing over the massive impacts this 600-mile pipeline would have on neighboring communities and climate change,” said Alison Kelly, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Greenlighting this pipeline without a sufficient review of the damage it would cause is a disservice to the people who life in its path and treasure this part of Appalachia.”
Greg Buppert, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said: “FERC is only telling one side of the story, and that story fails to answer the critical threshold question – is this project even necessary?”  Buppert points out that recent energy demand forecasts have cast serious doubt on the need for the ACP.  Furthermore, two-thirds of new generating capacity being added in the United States is based on renewable sources, not natural gas. Building the ACP would be contrary to the future growth of the electric utility industry.
“ACP refused to do the necessary impact analysis, so we have had to hire engineers to find out what will actually happen,” said Ben Luckett, a senior attorney with Appalachian Mountain Advocates. “We’ve learned the pipeline would create millions of cubic yards of excess dirt and rock for which ACP has no disposal plan and will level many of our scenic ridgetops, much like a mountaintop removal coal mine. We fear the most likely resting place for all of that construction spoil will be in our rivers, lakes, and streams. It is truly a slap in the face to hear FERC dismiss these impacts as ‘insignificant’ or, worse yet, to see that they have failed to analyze them at all.”
“The Atlantic Coast Pipeline environmental review failed to adequately address the threats it poses to our communities and our environment. This dirty and dangerous pipeline creates concern for significant risks of adverse impacts due to the nature of the terrain that the line would cross. Based on multiple unresolved environmental issues and potential hazards, and the magnitude of this project, FERC must reject the application. The stakes are very high and the risks are far too great,” said Kirk Bowers, Virginia Chapter, Sierra Club.
Anne Havemann, Senior Counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said: “The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would be a disaster for the climate. It will trigger a massive new wave of fracking, bringing climate pollution equivalent to 20 new coal-fired power plants. FERC’s own former chairman Norman Bay said that the agency should reconsider how it analyzes environmental impacts of pipelines like ACP, including analyzing lifecycle climate emissions. FERC should heed his advice and revise its analysis, or reject the pipeline.”
Peter Anderson, Virginia Program Manager for Appalachian Voices, noted: “A couple of months ago, the former Chairman of FERC raised significant doubts that the agency adequately analyzes pipeline need and climate impacts. This draft environmental impact statement is no different. FERC should rescind this DEIS and start over, this time with final route proposals, completed surveys, climate analysis that accounts for the entire life cycle, and a critical analysis of market demand and alternatives.”
“We know that projects like these are invariably placed near communities of low-income, people of color, or the elderly. In usual fashion, the ACP places a heavy burden on the poor and elderly, perhaps by design. These folks may not have the energy, stamina, and resources to fight, and that’s what these companies are banking on. This is an example of outside interests that plan to use our resources and toxify our land for their own benefit. It’s an old story that continues to play out the same way, despite the best efforts of local people to change our energy landscape,” said April Pierson-Keating Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance, Upshur County, WV.

# # #

Contacts:
Lewis Freeman, Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, 703-298-8107, lewfreeman@gmail.com
Greg Buppert, Southern Environmental Law Center, 434-977-4090, gbuppert@selcva.org
Ben Luckett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, 404-645-0125, bluckett@appalmad.org

Community and Conservation Groups Blast FERC Findings on Fracked-Gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Over 100 concerned Virginians weathered the cold and rallied in Waynesboro on November 1st to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Community and Conservation Groups Blast FERC Findings on Fracked-Gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dozens of local groups and public advocacy organizations today condemned federal regulators for ignoring evidence that the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is not needed and puts lives, communities, drinking water supplies, private property, publicly owned natural resources and the climate at unacceptable risk.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released its draft environmental review of the $5 billion pipeline spearheaded by Dominion Resources. For two years, the proposal has sparked fierce opposition from hundreds of landowners in the three states — including farmers, business leaders, Native American tribes and rural African-American communities — who reject the company’s plan to take their land without their consent. Their fight has drawn comparisons to the ongoing citizen-led resistance at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and to the fight in Nebraska to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The Atlantic Coast project would pump fracked gas across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, harming communities, water resources, private property, historic sites, and iconic public treasures including the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail. The groups say FERC failed to honestly assess these impacts and disregarded evidence that the project would lock consumer into decades more reliance on dirty fossil fuels.
An independent study shows there is enough existing gas supply in Virginia and the Carolinas to meet consumer demand through 2030 — negating the need for the massive pipeline and the harm it would trigger. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is one of six major pipelines proposed for the same region of West Virginia and Virginia, where experts warn the gas industry is overbuilding pipeline infrastructure. However, FERC ignored this evidence in its draft Environmental Impact Statement while also failing to assess the cumulative effects of the pipelines. The groups also fault the agency for dismissing clean energy alternatives.
In response to requests from numerous elected officials and organizations, FERC has extended the usual 45-day period for public comments; the deadline is April 6, 2017.
While legal and environmental experts are continuing to review the document, they have initially identified major gaps in FERC’s analysis, including:

  • The core issue of whether the massive project is needed to meet electricity demand, and whether alternatives including energy efficiency, solar and wind would be more environmentally responsible sources;
  • A complete analysis of the cumulative, life-cycle climate pollution that would result from the pipeline;
  • A full accounting of the negative economic consequences to communities, including decreased property values, loss of tourism revenue and other factors;
  • Any accounting of other environmental and human health damage from the increased gas fracking in West Virginia that would supply the pipeline; and
  • Thorough, site-specific analysis of damage to water quality and natural resources throughout the pipeline route.

Citizens along the route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — along with landowners in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 301-mile fracked-gas project proposed in the same region — vow they will continue to build resistance to stop them.

Statements from community, environmental and legal experts:

Nancy Sorrells, Augusta County Alliance, 540-292-4170, info@augustacountyalliance.org “Every foot of this route has a victim: a family that would be displaced, a farmer who would impacted, schoolchildren whose safety is compromised, and residents whose drinking water is a risk. And for what? Not for energy independence or to turn on the lights, but rather for the profit of a private corporation.”
Chad Oba, Friends of Buckingham, Cofounder and Chair, 434-969-3229, chado108@me.com “Buckingham County is being targeted for a massive, noisy, polluting compressor station — the project’s only one in Virginia — in an area of former slave plantations that is densely populated by mostly African-American Freedmen. FERC’s review omits virtually all of the cultural resource reports we submitted, effectively erasing us from the record even as we bear the greatest burden. The leaders of Standing Rock have pledged strong kinship with us as another example of environmental racism.”
Ericka Faircloth, a Lumbee Indian member of the grassroots group EcoRobeson. (For interview requests, contact Hope Taylor with Clean Water for NC at hope@cwfnc.org ) “Folks who live in Robeson County, one of the poorest and most diverse counties in North Carolina, are especially vulnerable to the empty promise of jobs. Residents of low wealth will be most severely impacted by higher utility rates to pay for the pipeline, and by lowered value for their land. Potential drinking water contamination, loss of forests and disruption of  cultural sites are among the risks many that poor communities are expected to ‘deal with’ to make way for a project that’s only about  profit.”
Joe Lovett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Executive Director, 304-520-2324, jlovett@appalmad.org   “We’re appalled FERC has once more refused to conduct a combined review of the massive slate of pipelines proposed to move fracked gas out of our region. FERC has the extraordinary power to grant ACP the right to take private property for private profit. Yet FERC decided that it didn’t have to do the hard work necessary to determine whether the ACP is necessary. Such a lack of diligence is truly remarkable.”
April Pierson-Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance (W.Va.), 304-642-9436, apkeating@hotmail.com: “This pipeline would add insult to injury in West Virginia, where we are already dealing with water and health impacts due to fracking. It would lock us into decades more fossil fuel pollution when we should be moving to renewable energy. This pipeline would continue the harm done by extractive industry to the most vulnerable of us — low-income people, the elderly, the disenfranchised.”
Peter Anderson, Virginia Campaign Coordinator, Appalachian Voices, 434-293-6373, peter@appvoices.org  “This pipeline would carry highly pressurized gas across miles of steep mountain terrain that is prone to rock slides and contains many headwater streams. Routing this pipeline across the Appalachian Trail and vulnerable water resources poses an unacceptable risk, especially given that it’s not needed to meet our energy needs.”
Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-396-1984, anne@chesapeakeclimate.org: “The Atlantic Coast pipeline will trigger a massive new wave of greenhouse gas pollution and climate damage. Yet, FERC’s review once again fails to add up the full impact, ignoring cumulative climate pollution from fracking wells and the ultimate burning of the gas.”
Greg Buppert, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, 434-977-4090, gbuppert@selcva.org “Dominion’s Atlantic Coast pipeline will not only irreparably alter our natural terrain but it is also unnecessary. The current route carves through the mountains in an area the U.S. Forest Service calls, ‘the wildland core of the central Appalachians’, for a pipeline that will lock generations of Virginians into dependence on natural gas. We already have the gas needed to bridge us from dirty to clean energy-existing infrastructure can meet our demands for natural gas for at least the next fifteen years. This is a Dominion self-enrichment project, not a public necessity.”
Kirk Bowers, Pipelines Campaign Manager, Virginia Chapter, Sierra Club, 434-296-8673, kirk.bowers@sierraclub.org “The DEIS is deficient in many respects and needs to be re-issued. It imposes absurd pre-conditions for serious consideration and fails to affirmatively seek out alternatives that would meet the presumed need while greatly mitigating harms to the public and environment, land-takings and even costs. Likewise, the Commission needs to stop approving all projects that have contract support and take seriously its duties to consider all factors affecting the public convenience and necessity, including protecting environmental interests and private property rights not to have land seized for privately owned pipelines just because another private party contracts for service.The ACP is not needed to keep the lights on, homes and businesses heated, or industries in production.”  

Over 100 concerned Virginians weathered the cold and rallied in Waynesboro on November 1st to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Over 100 concerned Virginians weathered the cold and rallied in Waynesboro on November 1st to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

From the Mountains to the Sea: The pipeline fight is about all of us

I’ve had the pleasure of organizing in Hampton Roads for almost two years now. Climate activists like you have stood beside me as we fought off the threat of offshore drilling on our coast. We’ve come together to tell our personal accounts of living on the front lines of sea level rise through Flood of Voices. We even bothered our local paper, The Virginian-Pilot, so much that they dedicated a section of their website to sea level rise. However, there is another threat that calls us to action yet again: Fracked-gas pipelines.
Virginia’s polluters are moving forward with their plans to construct the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) even though they would be locking our coastline into catastrophic climate repercussions. This egregious disregard for public health and lack of foresight has sparked a fire under activists in the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia. They have shown up to public meetings in droves and they are tirelessly fighting the construction of these fracked-gas freeways.
But they can’t do it alone.
We on the coast have a special obligation to join the fight against these pipelines (and we already are taking action). Throughout the spring and summer, activists in Hampton Roads held meetings with ten legislators urging them to weigh in for a full and fair federal review of both the ACP and the MVP. The long-term effects of an influx of fracked gas into our state will be felt first in Norfolk and the rest of Hampton roads through rising sea levels and more coastal flooding. The immediate impacts will touch us, too. In the Deep Creek community in Chesapeake, landowners and low-income residents face the prospect of the ACP coming into their backyards. Plus, we know what can happen when coastal residents come together to say NO to a fossil fuel project (remember that offshore drilling proposal?).
Across the Commonwealth, there is one more unifying reason why we should be fighting these ludicrous pipelines: water. We all need it, and we all prefer it to be clean. So why would we risk the safety of what pours out of our faucets when we can produce energy from clean sources like offshore wind instead? These pipelines present a very real threat to the thousands of streams, rivers, waterways, and wetlands that have a direct impact on Virginians’ drinking water and to our efforts to remediate the Chesapeake Bay.
The statewide resistance has already begun: over 600 climate activists marched on the Governor McAuliffe’s mansion with a unified message that called for clean energy instead of fossil fuel infrastructure. Just a couple weeks ago, activists across the state (and the country) came together for an event called Hands Across Our Land where they joined hands to loudly proclaim their opposition to pipelines anywhere and everywhere!
Teach terryNow, as the Federal Environmental Regulatory Commission prepares an Environmental Impact Study for each pipeline, the resistance must intensify. We expect FERC to release its environmental review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline any day now. But this decision isn’t a federal one alone. Governor McAuliffe has the power to direct his Department of Environmental Quality to deny the Clean Water Act permits for both pipelines and we need to make it VERY clear that it would be in the best interest of the people and our climate that he does just that. Because we know that he sometimes struggles with science of climate change (Just do a quick search of #TeachTerry).
The time is now to join us in fighting off yet another attack on our climate in Virginia. Contact me at harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org and I’ll plug you into one of our community action teams near your city: there, you will gain the tools that you’ll need to be the changemaker Virginia’s climate movement has been waiting for! I can’t wait to celebrate another victory with you.
 

Coal Ash in Virginia – What's Next

As summer winds down, the battle over Virginia’s long-term solution for coal ash disposal is heating back up. This summer saw several significant events and improvements in the fight against reckless coal ash disposal in Virginia.
First, the Virginia Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center teamed up in court to sue Dominion for violations of the Clean Water Act at its leaking Chesapeake coal ash ponds. The trial spanned 4 days in Richmond, at the end of which Judge Gibney said he was inclined to agree that arsenic was in fact leaking from the Chesapeake coal ash ponds and that Dominion was in violation of the Clean Water Act, but said he was not yet sure of a solution. He plans to rule on the case within the next few months.
This summer also saw the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency close a significant loophole in its coal ash rule. Previously, if utilities managed to close their inactive coal ash ponds within three years of the issuance of the rule, they would essentially escape all federal regulation. We speculate that this is why Dominion was moving so quickly–faster than almost all other utilities in the country–to close its inactive ponds. Thankfully, thanks to a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice and others, this loophole is now removed.
We view this as a significant win. Before this update, inactive coal ash ponds that closed early were not subject to any groundwater monitoring or other post-closure care requirements–basically, they were unregulated under federal law. Under this new rule, Dominion no longer has an incentive to meet the April 2018 closure deadline and, if it does, the company will still not be able to escape the full requirements of the coal ash rule. Dominion’s inactive ponds are now subject to monitoring and corrective action; groundwater contamination at the site is subject to strict cleanup standards; and these monitoring and cleanup requirements apply for 30 years after closure. We hope that this new EPA rule will result in Dominion giving more thought to its closure plans.
Despite these victories, there is still much work to be done. The next permit fight on the table is a dewatering permit for Dominion’s Chesterfield coal ash ponds. These ponds, which sit directly next to a playground and park, hold millions of tons of coal ash. They were shown to be leaking into the James River during a study conducted by Duke University earlier this summer.
This permit process goes before the Virginia State Water Control Board on September 22nd in Richmond, Virginia for a public hearing. The hearing will begin at 9:30 am at the General Assembly Building, House Room C (9th & Broad Streets) in Richmond. This permit still has serious deficiencies–from the high temperature of the released water to impacts to the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon habitat. We need Virginians to come together and show Dominion and state regulators that we demand a closure process that will protect our drinking water for decades to come, not Dominion shareholders’ bottom line. Especially as more southeastern states agree to excavate and move their coal ash to modern, lined landfills, or decide to recycle it–creating an economic windfall out of a toxic situation–Dominion lags farther and farther behind.
I’m hopeful on this campaign, friends. This summer hundreds gathered to march in 100* heat in Richmond to call on Governor McAuliffe to move us away from a future full of fossil fuels and dirty energy. To stand with Virginians, not with Dominion. Our movement is growing in Virginia and beyond. From the beautiful blockade against the Dakota Access Pipeline, to the unprecedented deployment of renewable energy across the globe, the tide is turning. We need your help to push us there.

The Road to Clean Energy Victories in Maryland

underwater press conference
My second week at CCAN I stood knee deep in the Baltimore Harbor in a dress and waders cleaning up debris that the tide had washed in. I knew at that moment that I had joined an organization that would do anything to bring clean energy to Maryland. That morning, Mike Tidwell, CCAN’s director, stood waist-deep in the Inner Harbor along with members of the Sierra Club, Working Families, the MD State Chapter of the NAACP, faith and student leaders to show why clean energy was desperately needed in Maryland.
As a broad, diverse coalition spoke behind a podium immersed in water — we began our journey to fight for a 40% clean energy standard in Maryland. The initiative was bold, innovative — yet not impossible. It would take all of us across Maryland working together for years to raise Maryland’s clean energy standard.
We are proud to announce that we have had a momentous year for climate change legislation in Maryland. Governor Hogan signed into law the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act that will slash emissions by 40% by the year 2030. On Monday, April 11th, on the final day of the 2016 session, the Clean Energy Jobs Act passed the Maryland General Assembly. The Clean Energy Jobs Act raises Maryland’s clean electricity standard to 25% by 2020 and opens up new avenues of funding for minority, small and women-owned businesses in the renewable energy industry. The Clean Energy Jobs Act will ensure that Maryland keeps dirty fossil fuels in the ground while diversifying and expanding Maryland’s wind and solar industry.
For those of you that have worked alongside us for the past few years — you know that these victories did not come easily. It took all of us working together and exploring bold new ways to secure a clean energy future for Maryland.
On the opening day of session in 2015, over 200 activists stood out in the bitter, January cold, holding windMD-Campaign-RPS-Feature turbines and placards demanding a clean energy future for Maryland. Lawyer’s Mall was crowded with legislative champions Senators Feldman and Madaleno along with labor, civil rights, health and faith voices. Trisha Sheehan, of Mom’s Clean Air Force stated, “Children are among the most vulnerable to climate change, especially from extreme heat events, widespread disease and increased air pollution. Maryland has the ability to double its use of clean energy by 2025. We need to act now to cut our reliance on the dirty fossil fuels that are polluting our air and making us sick.”
We worked hard throughout the session to show legislators that reaching a 40% clean energy standard was an achievable goal. A goal that was not only supported by environmentalists — yet was a vital component of our state’s pursuit towards achieving a higher standard of public health, economic well-being and to turn the tide on the injustices that the fossil fuel industry had wrought on low-income and minority communities.
Over a hundred activists gathered once again in Annapolis to meet with their legislators and rally through the 16449235219_a09bfcc716_znight in February of 2015. Despite the tremendous show of support we ultimately did not pass clean energy legislation in the 2015 session. Legislators balked at the idea of a 40% goal and instead we began to work on a 25% by 2020 standard. We knew that if we hit this critical benchmark that it would put us on the trajectory to achieve a 40% clean energy standard by the year 2025, and we could truly double wind and solar in Maryland. The bill failed in the Senate Finance Committee — yet the result of all of our efforts was that we built an unshakeable foundation and garnered the support of powerful Senate leaders and built a groundswell of grassroots activists.
After the 2015 session, we did not rest. Instead we continued to work so that we would flood Annapolis with voices from across Maryland. In September, Pope Francis arrived in D.C. with a message for people of faith and conscious, “Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years….Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start.”
davis climate in the pulpitsFaith communities across Maryland answered the Pope’s call to care for creation. Together with Interfaith Power and Light, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network hosted “Climate in the Pulpits” — a statewide effort of faith communities to raise up creation care and climate change in their worship services. On the weekend of September 23rd, over 87 congregations celebrated Climate in the Pulpits by inviting climate activists to give sermons, dedicating their worship message to climate change and signing postcards to their legislators urging them to pass the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act and the Clean Energy Jobs Act. Maryland State Delegate Dereck Davis (D-25 Prince George’s) participated by speaking on clean energy during the Sunday service at Forestville New Redeemer Baptist Church in District Heights. “Pope Francis has reminded us that addressing climate change is one of the great moral issues of our time,” said Del. Davis. “It is imperative that Maryland acts on climate so that we can create real, broad, and sustainable prosperity.”
Communities across Maryland also spoke out for the Maryland Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act (GGRA) — Maryland’s legal mandate to curb greenhouse gas emissions which was set to expire in 2016. The Maryland Climate Commission held meetings across the state from the Eastern Shore to Frostburg, MD. Activists told the Maryland Climate Commission members that not only did they want the to renew the GGRA, they also wanted to strengthen the benchmarks and goals, in order to address the growing threat of climate change.
Next, CCAN and the Maryland Climate Coalition hit the road and embarked on our Energy, Health, and Climate Expo tour throughout Maryland to build a strong alliance of clean energy advocates across the state. Events were held in Baltimore City/County, Charles County, Harford, and Howard Counties. Each event featured our clean energy champions from across the state including — Senator Middleton, Delegate Davis, Delegate Brooks, Delegate Robinson, Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards, and spokespeople from Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen’s office. Green organizations came together to teach community members about sustainability and how we can work together to combat the growing threat of climate change. This effort culminated in growing our grassroots movement and increased the amount of minorities and low-income community members engaging in our campaigns and advocating for clean energy policies in Maryland.
At the start of the 2016 session, we gained a powerful ally in Maryland State Senator Catherine Pugh, who introduced the Del. Dereck Davis addresses the congregation at Forestville Baptist Church as part of Climate in the Pulpits.Clean Energy Jobs Act — a bill with a landmark $40 million investment in workforce development and grants for small, minority, and women-owned businesses in the renewable energy industry. On the first day of session, Senator Pugh, lead sponsor of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, gathered with key committee leaders at a press conference in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Act and stated, “We’ll grow Maryland’s clean energy economy in a way that increases the diversity of workers and business owners. As we create more than 1,000 new solar jobs per year, we’ll also give more Marylanders pathways to good-paying careers.”
Throughout the 2016 legislative session our activists never let up. After record-setting blizzard Jonas, our activists dug themselves out and attended lobby days urging their legislators to vote YES on both the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act and the Clean Energy Jobs Act. Over the course of the last four months we held over a hundred legislative meetings with many grassroots advocates lobbying for the first time. Tracey Waite, founder of Harford County Climate Action and first time grassroots lobbyist said to one staffer, “When I think about climate change and our future, I feel as if I am in a boat and it has all these holes in it. If someone doesn’t plug the holes then this boat is going to sink. You have the power with both of these bills to stop the ship from sinking, Will you support these bills?”
Governor Hogan signs the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act into lawOn March 17, the Maryland General Assembly approved the landmark Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act of 2016. The bill, SB 323/HB 610, renews the 2009 Maryland law that set a goal to reduce climate-polluting greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 25 percent by 2020. The 2016 bill further extends the goal to a 40 percent reduction by 2030, requiring deep, long-term cuts in pollution. It received final approval by the House of Delegates after the Senate approved the bill in a 38-8 bipartisan vote in late February.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act commits Maryland to one of the highest climate goals in the country, following California and New York.
Following this victory, Mike Tidwell proclaimed, “This bold, and strikingly bipartisan, commitment to stronger climate action will help protect Maryland’s economy, health, and increasingly flooded shoreline. Our climate-vulnerable state is now leading the way, showing that reducing carbon pollution is not a partisan question, but an urgent necessity.”
And in the final hours of the 2016 Maryland General Assembly, the Clean Energy Jobs Act was sent to Governor Hogan’s desk. The Clean Energy Jobs Act passed with an overwhelming bi-partisan majority of members of the House of Delegates with a vote of 92-43 and in the Senate with a vote of 31-14. Lead Senate Sponsor, Catherine Pugh stated, “This vote is a major step toward growing Maryland’s clean energy economy. This bill will create good-paying jobs and healthier air for communities in Baltimore and across Maryland that urgently need both.”
The journey that started with an underwater press conference in Baltimore City has now spread across the state of Maryland. Thanks to all of you that have made this possible and let’s continue to win more victories for Maryland, for our climate, and for our future.

Coal Ash Stories Across Virginia

The past few months has seen fierce resistance across the state of Virginia to Dominion’s plans to dump toxic coal ash wastewater into our rivers, and then to leave the coal ash in unlined pits that could leak heavy metals into our groundwater for decades to come.
We’re angry, and rightfully so. Dominion wants to keep up with business as usual – getting what they want, when they want it. But not anymore.
Dominion has received the necessary permits from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to ‘dewater’ two of its four coal ash impoundments — at Possum Point along Quantico Creek and at the Bremo Station along the James River. But Dominion still needs two more wastewater dumping permits, and four permits to deal long-term with the leftover coal ash waste. We have lots of work ahead to protect our water supplies from this reckless corporation.
Over the next few weeks, we’re partnering with friends and organizations across Virginia to spread awareness of the dangers of coal ash, and root ourselves in community action moving forward.
We’re helping host a series of screenings of Coal Ash Stories, an incredible documentary series by filmmaker Rhiannon Fionn and Working Films.
Coal Ash Stories paints a picture of what life looks like in communities threatened by coal ash contamination. People are unable to drink their own water, take a bath, fish or farm without worrying about long-term health effects. These fears are already being felt by communities located near coal-fired power plants in Virginia.
We’ll watch, discuss, and plan; and we need you to be there.

Look for an event near you!
March 31st –
Alexandria, VA – 7pm – Alexandria Beatly Branch Library,
5005 Duke St., Alexandria, Va.
Click here for the Facebook event page.

April 4th –
Richmond, VA – 7:30pm – Rag & Bones Bicycle Coop
3110 W. Leigh St., Richmond, Va.
Click here for the Facebook event page.

April 5th –
Dumfries, VA – 7pm – Dumfries Triangle Rescue Squad
3800 Graham Park Rd., Dumfries, Va.
Click here for the Facebook event page.

April 20th –
Charlottesville, VA – 7pm – Jefferson-Madison Regional Library
201 E Market St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Click here for the Facebook event page.

Chesapeake, VA – To be announced
Check out the trailer here:
Coal Ash Chronicles extended trailer from Coal Ash Chronicles on Vimeo.