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Government Agency Denies Seasonal Tree Cutting Extension for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

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In a rare turn of events, last Wednesday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied Dominion Energy’s request to extend seasonal tree cutting along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline path (ACP), the proposed 600-mile natural gas line running from West Virginia through North Carolina.

Dominion Energy was originally given until March 14 of this year to cut trees due to time-of-year felling restrictions intended to protect migratory bird species and endangered species such as warblers, owls, and the Indiana bat. FERC determined that “it would not offer an equal or greater level of protection” to extend their allotted time for tree felling, according to the letter sent to Dominion by FERC’s Division of Gas Director, Richard McGuire.

“FERC made the right decision [Wednesday] by holding ACP developers to their promise to protect migratory birds. Tree-cutting restrictions are a critical part of the measures FERC required to minimize the harmful effects of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Greg Buppert said in a statement. “Dominion’s last-minute request to renege on its commitments to environmental protection is another example of the company’s attempt to flex its political muscle for quick rubber-stamp approvals.”

Legal teams and environmental groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center, Appalachian Voices, and the Sierra Club have spent the past several years fighting the pipeline construction. Despite these efforts, Dominion predicts the project’s completion by 2020.

“For any large infrastructure project, we have to plan for contingencies,” Dominion spokesperson Aaron Ruby said. “By rearranging some of our construction plans and shifting some work to 2019, we’ll keep the project on track for completion by the end of next year.”

Back Creek Mountain, Highland County. Photo: The Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative

Thus far, Dominion claims to have cut over 200 miles of trees on the projected pipeline path. This rejection to extend tree felling follows another blatant negligence from Dominion, as the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) cited 15 violations of State Water Control laws and regulations that occurred during the felling along the ACP last month.

“It’s just criminal that they get permission to do this… They just dropped the trees,” said David Seriff, a Virginia landowner. “They got permission to cut the trees, but they don’t actually have permission to start the pipeline yet. It’s a horrible scar across the land.”

Dominion’s sister project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), has also met resistance from landowners and environmental groups. Similarly to the ACP, locals fear sediment pollution in waterways, unstable conditions due to a karst landscape, damage to private lands and to local endangered species, among other concerns. Last month, MVP began tree felling in the Brush Mountain Wilderness area in the Jefferson National Forest, land that is normally protected by the Department of the Interior.

The United States Forest Service granted MVP the permit required to build through the national forest, roadless land normally reserved for wildlife and outdoor recreation.  

“Normally, the Forest Service is on our side,” said Kirk Bowers, pipelines program coordinator at the Sierra Club. “When Trump came into office, the entire political situation changed and they caved in to pressure from the oil industry and political interests to approve the permits.”

Groups like the Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center continue to take legal action against ACP and MVP. Dominion has permission from FERC to continue tree felling in the fall, once the migratory bird species move on for the winter.

Protesters Call Attention to Sexual Assault on the Pipeline Outside Governor’s Office

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In a continuation of weekly protests outside Gov. Ralph Northam and the Attorneys General’s offices, about 10 anti-pipeline protesters gathered Wednesday morning to voice concerns over the possible increased sexual violence toward women during the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).

The group, organized by local advocates Stacy Lovelace and Jessica Sims, delivered a series of letters both to Gov. Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, including their concerns over an increase of male pipeline construction workers.

“The first impact that would disproportionately affect women would be the arrival of ‘man camps’ in the areas,” Lovelace said. “The vast majority are male workers. They work 12-hour days, they’re socially isolated, and they end up becoming centers for these men to start sex trafficking. Violence and rape go up, violence against women increases, and this has predominantly affected Native women and girls up to this point. These are the camps that will be coming to Virginia.”

Jessica Sims and Stacy Lovelace

Writers and feminists like Gloria Steinem have written editorials for several publications, including The Boston Globe, citing an increase of sexual violence and sex trafficking due to the large concentration of isolated male pipeline construction workers along these paths.

These workers live in temporary trailer parks often in abandoned or rural areas. Housing is not provided by the companies, and workers are instead charged a monthly rent in addition to the cost of parking the mobile home. Money is tight, which leads to less than ideal living conditions, which according to Vice, contributes to the increased sexual violence. Working conditions are also poor, as the likelihood of death increases seven times when working with oil rigs or natural gas.

The correlation between increased rape and oil fields became so pertinent, the Department of Justice began soliciting grant research in August of 2016 to study the impact. In a statement, the Department of Justice theorized, “oil industry camps may be impacting domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in the direct and surrounding communities in which they reside.”

Protesters outside the Governor’s Office

When construction work occurred in the Bakken oil fields, local victim advocates from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations reported a doubling in the number of hotline calls to victim-service providers for sexual assault, sex trafficking, and domestic violence. Virginia advocates like Lovelace and Sims fear this type of violence may come to the counties along the ACP and MVP.

“Northam ran his campaign claiming to be a strong advocate for women’s rights,” Sims said. “This is a way for him to prove that. He is a doctor and his oath, ‘to do no harm,’ needs to sway his decision and his understanding that this [pipeline] is immediately doing harm.”

Sims said the women plan to continue holding these protests every Wednesday until “the pipeline project is shut down.”

ACP Protesters Rally Outside Governor’s Mansion

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On a chilly Valentine’s Day morning, protesters gathered outside of the Governor’s office to oppose the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. While there were only seven in attendance, they carried with them dozens of letters from those who oppose the pipelines, but were unable to travel to the capitol or take time off work.

Stacy Lovelace, co-organizer of the protest with Jessica Sims, addressed Northam directly in her opening remarks. ”Governor Northam has said he’d wait for the science. Well, the science has long confirmed that these pipelines are terrible,” Lovelace said. “Governor Northam has said that he backs the pipelines as long as they’re done responsibly and people’s land rights are taken into account. It’s obvious that this is not the case, that property rights are being trampled as well as the land, air quality, and water,  and that the [Department of Environmental Quality] and other state agencies have rubber stamped this process in the most irresponsible way possible.”

“I don’t know about y’all, but I’m tired of being insulted by this governor with ridiculous statements like these,” Lovelace went on to say. 

After the remarks, the group chanted and sang, before delivering a sachet of postcards and a letter, which asked the governor to take several concrete steps. They asked that construction preparations and the felling of trees cease until the state has finished its certification process for the pipeline. Along two sections of pipeline, construction workers have already begun clearing sites.

They asked that the citizen appointed State Water Control Board’s oversight be reinstated. They argued that this board was the body which legally ought to have oversight and not the politically appointed DEQ. They asked that public input to the Water Control Board be allowed before the already approved but delayed certification becomes effective.

They demanded that he bolster his opposition to offshore oil drilling by also opposing fracking. One protester pointed out the basic hypocrisy of opposing offshore drilling when it affects his own tidewater backyard, but supporting fracking which threatens the water wells, air quality, and backyards of the rest of Virginia.

They also demanded that Northam rescind a secret agreement reached between ACP and the McAuliffe administration. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in December, but only discovered after North Carolina announced they’d made a similar agreement. Under the memo, the pipeline companies agree to pay $57,850,000 for mitigation of unavoidable damage to the state’s water and forests. In return, critics say, the state has provided ACP with a liability shield that protects them from lawsuits.

Writing at Blue Virginia, environmental activist and lawyer Jon Sokolow accused the state of allowing Dominion Power to “buy their way out” of paying for damages caused by the pipeline.

“Terry McAuliffe gave Dominion a full and complete release from any and all damage to Virginia’s forests and water from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” he wrote.

Sokolow argues that North Carolina’s memo creates greater protections than Virginia’s because North Carolina reserved the right to sue pipeline operators for damages, while Virginia’s agreement does not.

As we’ve reported before, people in vulnerable rural communities are losing their livelihoods and homes to this pipeline. Under this memorandum, their communities could be devastated by a leak or spill, and have no legal recourse to sue for damages. Critics say that it’s no longer just the people directly in the path of the pipeline who are now in danger, but every community nearby or downriver.

Though small in number, the protesters sought to magnify the voices of those very communities. The letters they brought with them bore names and addresses from across the commonwealth. And they’re concerned about communities beyond their own, and beyond Virginia. Flint, Michigan and the threat the Dakota Access pipeline raised to native communities both weighed heavily on the minds of the protesters.

In her opening remarks, co-organizer Stacy Lovelace reminded the protesters that the land being stolen to build the pipelines “was stolen once before, from the indigenous peoples of those lands.”


Asked how long the protests would continue, Lovelace was blunt. “Until our demands are met, we’re not going away until the pipelines do.”

The protesters will reassemble on Wed., Feb. 28, at 10 AM behind the Governor’s office, and have said that their weekly protest will continue indefinitely until their demands are met.

Photos By: David Streever

This story has been corrected. Lovelace’s quote was attributed to Sims and Jon Sokolow and Governor McAuliffe’s names were misspelled, and the lede was updated to add the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Dominion Begins Cutting Trees for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline

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Dominion Energy has begun felling trees in West Virginia and Virginia along the proposed path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).

After the Federal Energy Regulation Committee (FERC) approved a Limited Notice to Proceed last Friday to begin felling trees along the proposed path of the ACP, Dominion Energy wasted no time in beginning the process.

“This work will only be done on properties where we’ve reached agreements with landowners,” said Dominion Energy spokesperson Aaron Ruby in a statement. “None of the work will be done in wetlands, near water bodies, or in other areas that require additional federal and state permits. We will, of course, notify all landowners before beginning activity on their property.”

Along the ACP. Photo by Landon Shroder

Although FERC has determined Dominion may begin cutting, any felled trees or vegetation debris will be left in place until further authorization for any ‘earth-disturbing’ activities is granted by FERC.

“Trees and vegetation may be felled at or above ground level, and must use methods that will not rut soils or damage root systems, and be felled in a way that avoids obstruction of flow, rutting, and sedimentation of wetlands and waterbodies,” Dave Swearingen, FERC Branch Chief, wrote in a letter to Dominion executives.

Dominion will be unable to begin cutting trees and vegetation in North Carolina after the state gave Dominion a qualified disapproval of the erosion and sedimentation control permit. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) decided the pipeline project did not meet the state’s standards for erosion control, a concern that persists among Virginia landowners.

“I think it’s an incredibly stupid decision by FERC, because it sets you up for them to do damage to the environment that is difficult to undo, but it is legal at this point,” Richard Averitt said, a landowner and business owner in Nelson County. Tree cutting has not yet begun in Nelson due to the very few number of easements ACP has gained in Nelson County, according to Averitt.

Landowners have struggled with fighting pipeline projects for several years, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which is still in the legal process of obtaining easements from over 300 landowners through eminent domain in Virginia and West Virginia.

“This is a fairly limited action in a fairly limited number of places,” Averitt said. “There are a number of major lawsuits that are being filed that could have effect on this, but at this point, they’re really just cutting down the line of growth on places where people have negotiated and received payment.”

Richard Averitt

Averitt notes that the next step in stopping tree felling will be to fight any cases where ACP is attempting to use the ‘quick-take’ action within eminent domain, which would allow Dominion to cut trees on properties of people who have not settled with Dominion prior to all permits being finalized.

“I feel confident they will not get any of that done,” Averitt said.

Landowners and their lawyers argued against the constitutionality of eminent domain in a hearing last week, a power that is usually reserved only for the federal government and not a private company for private gain. MVP wishes to begin their tree felling by Feb. 1.

While MVP landowners asked for a rehearing, FERC instead issued a tolling order, meaning they will delay a final decision in court while allowing pipeline construction to move forward.

“Dominion is way behind schedule,” Averitt said. “There are a lot of things threatening the pipeline in general, and they’re doing everything in their power to hurry because the legal processes all have the opportunity of killing the project. They know that the more they get done, the easier they have this mysterious argument that, ‘Oh hey we’ve already done all of this work, surely we should be able to continue…’ They’re trying to put on the artifice that it’s all a done deal, which they believe could cause other people to sign easements, to give up, to stop fighting, and sort of saps the will of the people. They’re wrong. We’ve got a strong resistance to stop these pipelines.”

Department of Environmental Quality Hearing Votes for Conditional Approval of ACP Permit

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After a contentious Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hearing, the Virginia State Water Control Board voted Tuesday afternoon for a conditional approval of the 401 Certification for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) permit, tentatively stalling the ACP from moving forward with their pipeline construction planning process.

The vote was considered a positive decision for many landowners and environmental groups who oppose the pipeline, as the vote means ACP does not have an effective certification today.

Virginia State Water Control Board Hearing

“It is good because the Board today acknowledged what we have been saying all along: this process is flawed, that they can’t in good faith make a final decision without all the information,” said David Sligh, conservation director at Wild Virginia and former DEQ engineer. “There’s a great deal of information that has not been assembled, not submitted, and not reviewed as it must be.”

This approval is contingent on many conditions which must be met within an undetermined 12-month period, set by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The vote is considered a more positive outcome for opposition compared to that of the DEQ hearing last week, which resulted in a full permit approval for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). A lawsuit has already been filed against the MVP decision in federal court by groups like Wild Virginia, Sierra Club, and Southern Environmental Law Center.

“We have never seen this kind of uprising on an environmental issue in this state,” Sligh said. “I’ve been working on these issues for over 35 years and I have never seen this kind of effort. I’ve never seen this kind of unity.”

David Sligh

The hearing, under the guidance of the Virginia DEQ, was meant to ensure ACP construction would follow all Virginia water quality and protection standards before granting the company a permit to build. Because of the structure in which DEQ has segmented these hearings, this certificate only addressed land disturbing activities outside of rivers and wetlands.

“All this turmoil is specifically because of the way DEQ designed this process,” Sligh said. “By segmenting all these different parts and trying to address them separately, they made a mess. They created a situation by which the Board didn’t have the ability to make the kind of straightforward case that they should have been able to make.”

401 Certification of the Clean Water Act strictly concerns the construction oversight for the upland areas on the pipeline route. Other certifications, such as erosion and sediment control, stormwater management, karst testing, and steep slope analysis have not yet been examined by the Board.

“Ultimately, DEQ works for Terry McAuliffe,” said Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network founder and director. “Terry McAuliffe has never to this day sat down and met with landowners opposed to this pipeline. He’s met for hours and hours and hours with Dominion. […] It would be great if the governor himself would say, ‘I hear you, Virginians. I hear you, landowners. I hear you, farmers. I hear you, students.’”

Audience at DEQ Hearing

During the hearing, Board member Roberta Kellam made a motion to deny the 401 Certification. After meeting conflict from the Board, the motion did not reach a vote. When audience members voiced their disappointment at this during the hearing, Board member Timothy Hayes commented the audience would “understand when they’re older,” in reference to the hearing proceedings.

This comment caused so much upheaval from the audience, including standing in unity, clapping and shouting to drown out any comments from the Board, they called for a 20-minute break while police officers stood nearby.

“Everyone in rural Virginia wants to protect Virginia and wants to protect their water,” said Cathy Chandler, Roanoke County landowner. “I felt the Board tried to ask good questions, and they got a very circuitous, jumbled response [from DEQ] without time and attention to giving an answer with clarity.”

Worried they may involuntarily waive their authority under the Clean Water Act involuntarily to FERC, the majority of the Board felt pressured to make the decision yesterday rather than delay a vote, according to Peter Anderson, Virginia program manager with Appalachian Voices.

Cathy Chandler, landowner

“It was a very nuanced decision,” Anderson said. “[The Board] is calling it a 401 Certification Clean Water Act certification, but there’s all these conditions in it to say, ‘Well, but, we reserve the right to make more decisions on this in the future.’”

Although landowners and environmental groups hope to see further certifications denied in the future, they are hopeful about this decision.

“We’re seeing Dominion Energy’s might being thrown around here,” said Deborah Kushner, Nelson County landowner. “These pipeline construction companies have so much profit to gain. […] I’m really heartened by seeing people [at this hearing] who respond and are not quiet.”

*Photos by Madelyne Ashworth

 

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Mountain Valley Pipeline Permit Approved Despite Objections From Residents

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After a two-day hearing in Richmond’s north side with the Virginia Department of Environment Quality (DEQ), the State Water Control Board approved the Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC (MVP) permit request. 

With five board members in favor and two opposed, the motion grants MVP the right to proceed with plans to build 303 miles of natural gas pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia, which many landowners fear will contaminate their groundwater, harm the local environment, and force them from their homes. 

Virginia State Water Control Board

“I feel cheated completely,” said Carolyn Reilly, a landowner and pipeline fighter for Bold Alliance. “I feel robbed of our right to our water and our land and our home. The injustice continues from state powers and corporations gaining off of our backs and off of our valuable resources that we need to live and to survive. It’s been rocky, but we’re already organizing a meeting with landowners tomorrow. We’re stronger together and we’re going to keep that solidarity. We are not done in this fight.”

The first of two hearings concerning pipeline projects in Virginia, the Virginia State Water Control Board and DEQ used this hearing to determine if MVP will uphold environment protection and water quality standards in Virginia before, during, and after the construction of the pipeline. A second hearing of the same nature will be held next week to ensure the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a 600 mile pipeline slated to run through western Virginia, will uphold the same standards.

Over the past two days, dozens of landowners, as well as several environmental experts, gathered in Trinity Life Center to offer personal testimony for the Board. Representatives from MVP were required to present detailed construction plans, many of which are not yet properly approved, according to MVP Water Permitting Division Director Melanie Davenport.

“We know Virginia citizens are very troubled by the FERC [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] process, and how going through the process a FERC developer grants eminent domain,” Davenport said. “One of the things we’re hoping for is landowners can say, ‘Hey, this formation wasn’t on the [construction] plan for my land.’”

Under section 401 of the Clean Water Act, states are given authority to determine if any project or activity needing a federal permit is compliant with the state’s water quality standards. The Board used five regulatory and review categories to examine the effects of a pipeline in Virginia: an environmental impact review, stormwater, erosion and sediment control, federal wetlands and stream regulation, Virginia water quality certification, and water quality monitoring.

Ben Luckett, Senior Attorney

“It’s very clear to us the board lacks sufficient information to make a reasoned determination on whether this project would cause violations of water quality statements,” said Ben Luckett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates senior attorney. “There’s no rush here. There’s nothing but the applicant’s self-imposed schedules that prevent them from waiting. Today you’ve heard about all of these plans that are going to be developed after the certification is made. Our position is, ‘What’s the rush?’”

Large numbers of Virginia State Police were also present at the hearing, with at least three officers at every entrance to the community center and several patrolling from an overhead balcony. Although over 100 people were in attendance the first day of the meetings, many landowners needed to return home and around 60 remained for the following day.

Vanessa Boline, Native American Anti-Pipeline Activist

“At the end of the day, this land belongs to native people,” said Vanessa Boline, Virginia resident and Standing Rock anti-pipeline activist. “We are the caretakers of this land. We were put here for a purpose and a reason. My fight is still the same as Standing Rock: to protect the water for the next generation. It’s our responsibility to protect that, and make sure we leave them something worth having.”

According to Dr. Hearst Kastning, a karst landscape expert, pipeline leaks are likely to occur due to the high degree of seismic activity in this region of Appalachia. Landslides are also common in the area, a phenomenon likely to increase once pipeline construction begins and large numbers of trees preventing erosion are removed.

“Karst in general is one of the most sensitive landscapes in the environment. In a karst landscape, there are a lot of fractures and openings,” Kastning said. “Caves allow a lot of water to go through, fast, and unfiltered. Because of that, if the pipeline goes over karst, there are no guarantees it will be all right, because we don’t know where it will redirect the water… Once [the pipeline] is operational, if it springs a leak or breaks, that would contaminate the groundwater for quite a distance.”

‘Water is Life’ Table Set up in Nearby Church During Hearing

This hearing’s verdict differs from those recently made in West Virginia, whose Department of Environmental Protection waived their state’s authority under the Clean Water Act. The responsibility to grant the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and MVP permits in that state will now fall to the FERC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In waiving their rights, West Virginia’s State Water Control Board also avoids any opportunity to be sued for negligence.

“There are still many permitting processes,” Reilly said. “There are still many legal cases that need to be addressed. There are still a diverse amount of ways that this project may not come to fruition. It’s not a done deal. There has been no ground overturned by this company.”

The DEQ hearing with Virginia’s State Water Control Board for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit will take place December 11 and 12 at 9:30 a.m. at Trinity Life Center. Attendance to open to the public. Testimony is allotted to those whose time was reserved in advance.

*Photos by Madelyne Ashworth. Cover Photo by Landon Shroder

 

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