Dominion: pipeline on track to get green light this fall

The News Virginian
by Bob Stuart

WAYNESBORO — Officials of Dominion Resources said Thursday they are confident the final environmental impact statement on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be approved by summer, and believe the overall project will get the final OK this fall.

Diane Leopold, president and CEO of Dominion Energy, said a previous favorable ruling on the draft EIS by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and similar action on the final statement "will provide a strong foundation" for the final green light needed before construction can begin.

The Dominion executive also said President Donald Trump should have additional appointments to FERC by mid September. As of now, the agency has only two members and lacks the quorum necessary to grant final approval of the pipeline.

Leopold said she did not anticipate problems for other permit approvals from federal, state and local agencies for the pipeline, which will travel 600 miles from West Virginia through Virginia to North Carolina. Approximately 55 miles of the route goes through Augusta County. The pipeline will generate 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

There have been more than 300 route adjustments for the pipeline to minimize its effects on the environment, homeowners and other stakeholders, according to Leopold.

Materials for the project are progressing as well. Construction has been completed on 65 percent of the steel pipe needed for the project. Leslie Hartz, vice president of pipeline construction for Dominion Energy, said approximately half of the pipe is coming from South Korea. The thicker-wall pipe necessary for the pipeline, she said, is not available in the United States.

Leopold said the pipeline's construction is of vital importance to those depending on it in Virginia and North Carolina.

"We are developing infrastructure to meet the needs of millions of people," she said.

The pipeline, Leopold claims, is a must for both economic development and energy security along the Eastern seaboard. It also will provide jobs and a cleaner environment, the Dominion official said.

As for the sale of land needed for the pipeline route, Hartz said the goal is for a mutual agreement between the company and property owners, rather than the use of eminent domain.

"We don't like eminent domain. We would rather work with the landowner,'' she said.

Eminent domain is a legal option by which the government may force private property owners to sell their land at fair market value for certain public projects or those deemed in the public's best interest.

Leopold made clear that while it's not preferable, eminent domain will be employed if all else fails.

"In order to complete the project, that is the option to resort to if necessary," she said.

Shortly after the press conference with Dominion, opponents of the pipeline held a similar telephone press call to disclose findings on the damage they say the pipeline will cause to mountaintops.

The groups said in a briefing paper based on documents submitted by Dominion to FERC and through GIS mapping software, that Dominion would require mountaintops to be reduced by 10 to 60 feet along 38 miles of Appalachian ridges. The ridges are located in both Virginia and West Virginia.

"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 Gov. Terry McAuliffe and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to reject this destructive pipeline," said Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Ben Luckett, a staff attorney with Appalachian Mountain Advocates, said the mountaintop work will generate "excess spoil." He said this is material that is created from the blasting and breaking of rock, and cannot simply be stacked up. "It ends up in rivers, streams and lakes. The material would be very detrimental,'' Luckett said.

Hartz disputes the findings of the opponents. She said it would be necessary for small clearings of ridgetops, but said the terrain would be restored with native material to its original contour. She also spoke of the expertise of Dominion in building pipelines.

"Dominion and the lead contractor have more than 200 years of experience building pipelines,'' she said.