Construction has just started on the Mountain Valley Pipeline and offsite sedimentation is already occurring at multiple sites in Virginia and West Virginia. The following photo was taken on Friday, May 18th, in Franklin County. Cahas Mountain Road is covered in mud that has flowed from a pipeline construction entrance. For more Continue Reading →
The Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative (CSI) is a program developed by the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance and its member organizations to support citizen efforts to ensure strict application of environmental laws and regulations in the construction and operation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). Pipeline CSI will focus first on the Continue Reading →
PRESS RELEASE (1/22/18): A citizen initiative to monitor construction activities of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is being launched today by the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA), a coalition of over 50 organizations in Virginia and West Virginia. The objective of the Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative (Pipeline CSI) is to ensure strict Continue Reading →
A group of thirteen expert scientists and engineers submitted reports to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on August 22, 2017, finding that DEQ has failed in its duty to properly analyze and protect against the water quality damages the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline would cause Continue Reading →
The DPMC has published an interactive Critical Zone Mapping System (CZMS) in support of citizen efforts to overcome the continuing failure of the regulatory system. Dominion Energy, with the cooperation of state and federal government, has effectively managed the regulatory process to ensure that essential details and limitations of its plans to Continue Reading →
The communication professionals working for Dominion are campaigning to convince everyone that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a done deal – despite the fact that challenges are mounting and the project has received none of the required state and federal approvals. An article just published in Southeast Energy News highlights some of Continue Reading →
Dominion intends to blast away, excavate, and partially remove mountaintops along 38 miles of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. The magnitude of this undertaking has been described in a fact sheet, New Data: Atlantic Coast Pipeline Would Trigger Extensive Mountaintop Removal. The fact sheet was Continue Reading →
The editorial writers of the Richmond Times-Dispatch go to extremes in their support for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Their April 8th editorial, Time to move forward on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, is a classic. DPMC Investigator, David Sligh, provided the following response (published in the RTD on April 15th). Your Continue Reading →
The DPMC has submitted a report to FERC on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the ACP and the proposal to drill through the Blue Ridge Mountains under the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the George Washington National Forest. Implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act requires Continue Reading →
If permitted, both the ACP and the MVP will cross steep-sided, highly erodible and landslide-prone mountains, sensitive and complex karst hydrology, high-integrity forests, and high-quality streams and wetlands. The scale of the projects and the risks are unprecedented. Yet the companies propose to wait until after completion of environmental review, until after Continue Reading →
The native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is a symbol of the best of what remains of wild landscape and intact mountain forests in the central Appalachian Mountain region. Naturally reproducing trout streams are associated with healthy ecosystems, clean water, and above all, relatively undisturbed and undeveloped watersheds. Brook trout are Continue Reading →
The U.S. Forest Service has raised concerns about the impacts of proposed ACP pipeline and access road construction on wild trout streams in the George Washington National Forest (GWNF). In preliminary comments submitted to FERC on September 1, 2016, the Forest Service identified several brook trout streams in the National Forest Continue Reading →
The DPMC has submitted comments to the US Army Corps of Engineers requesting that gas pipeline projects proposed for construction in the mid-Atlantic mountain region be excluded from the Corps’ general permitting program. The general permits are intended to apply to projects with minimal environmental impact. The DPMC argues that Continue Reading →
In what seems to be a step in the right direction, the Virginia DEQ has advised ACP and MVP developers that “project-specific” erosion and sediment control plans will be required. The move to require project-specific plans, while seeming to be an improvement, is really a smokescreen that obscures a continued 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 →