It has been suggested that FERC might be responsive to concerns about the impact of the proposed ACP on human safety and property values, and that maps showing the extent of the blast radius and the evacuation zone might be effective in communicating such concerns. Here is a quick guide Continue Reading →
The Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition has insisted, in an April 14th letter sent to the Office of the Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), that regulatory shortcuts requested by proponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) are illegal. Continue Reading →
Examination of the Columbia Gas of Virginia pipeline project over Peters Mountain in Giles County is informative with respect to both careless pipeline construction practices and regulatory system failure. It was thus surprising to see the recent op-ed piece by company spokesman, Robert Innes, who objects to our complaints about the project. Why Continue Reading →
Among the significant concerns about the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline is the potential for damage to private and public water supplies. Although Dominion indicates that it will monitor the quality and quantity of water supply springs and wells, the information it has provided about its monitoring plans is evasive or incomplete. It’s clear that Continue Reading →
The ACP-EMS is an online interactive map depicting environmental risks and sensitivities associated with the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The purpose of the ACP-EMS is to organize and provide access to environmental information and to support engagement in ACP permitting and oversight. The geographic focus of the ACP-EMS includes approximately Continue Reading →
Dominion has announced that it plans to pursue an alternative route for the ACP in response to Forest Service concerns about harm to protected species and habitats in the Cheat Mountain area of West Virginia and the Shenandoah Mountain area of Virginia. The change in plans addresses concerns about endemic Continue Reading →
The Forest Service has rejected the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline route through the Monongahela and George Washington National Forests. The Forest Service specifically determined that the proposed route does not meet minimum requirements of initial screening criteria for special use of National Forest System lands in West Virginia and Virginia. The decision Continue Reading →
The proposed ACP will cross the greatest concentration of high-integrity forest and ecological core areas in both Virginia and West Virginia. (1) Concerns about increasing fragmentation of these forest areas and damage to ongoing restoration efforts were raised in scoping comments submitted by the DPMC to FERC in April 2015. (2) One of Continue Reading →
The Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition has initiated the Twelve Days of Accountability. On each of 12 days beginning in mid-December we are submitting at least one Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) to Virginia state officials and agencies responsible for oversight of pipeline construction. With regulatory approvals for both the Atlantic Continue Reading →
The DPMC has filed a request with Governor Terry McAuliffe for documents held by his office that relate to the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. 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 Continue Reading →
The Virginia DEQ only inspects pipeline projects on a “complaint driven basis.” In an effort to determine just how this works and to address an immediate and serious environmental problem, the DPMC filed a complaint with the DEQ on November 11, 2015 concerning non-compliance with erosion and sediment control and stormwater Continue Reading →
The Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA) has written to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission endorsing the position of the U.S. Forest Service in its refusal to utilize soils data collected for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. In addition, the ABRA letter to FERC raises serious concerns about the ACP developer’s ability to Continue Reading →
The Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition has submitted a complaint and request for enforcement to the Virginia DEQ concerning non-compliance with Virginia erosion and sediment control and stormwater management requirements at the Columbia Gas of Virginia (CGV) pipeline construction project on Peters Mountain in Giles County. CGV failed to prepare and adhere to Continue Reading →
The misrepresentation of staff qualifications and protocols, the lack of quality assurance, and the avoidance of Forest Service oversight, caste further doubt on all of Dominion’s “privileged” or withheld environmental studies, surveys, and plans. Dominion spokesmen claim there was no misrepresentation related to the soil surveys it hastily conducted for the proposed ACP route Continue Reading →
Pipeline construction over steep Appalachian mountains creates significant runoff and slope-failure problems. Dominion Transmission, Inc., for example, was fined in 2014 for serial slope failures at one of its pipeline projects in West Virginia. In that case, as in others, the difficulties associated with construction in extreme landscape have been compounded Continue Reading →