Feds release final environmental impact statement for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Triad Business Journal
Lauren Ohnesorge

The feds have released their final environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas line planned to cut through the state by way of West Virginia and Virginia.

The feds have released their final environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas line planned to cut through the state by way of West Virginia and Virginia.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concludes that, while the project’s construction and implementation is likely to result in “some adverse effects,” by following mitigation recommendations, ACP can reduce those impacts “to less-than significant levels.”

According to FERC, negative effects of ACP’s construction and operation could include its impact on steep slopes and adjacent bodies of water. The documents points to a handful of endangered species that could be impacted by the project, from the Roanoke logperch to the clubshell mussel to the Indiana bat.

In a prepared statement after the release, Leslie Hartz, Dominion Energy's vice president of engineering and construction, said the report "provides a clear path for final approval of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline this fall."

"The report concludes that the project can be built safely and with minimal long-term impacts to the environment," Hartz states.

The report comes a day after seven mayors, spearheaded by Linwood Parker of Four Oaks, put out a joint statement calling for the project to be built.

“We just wanted to make sure everybody is aware of the importance to eastern North Carolina to have natural gas and an abundant supply,” Parker said Friday in an interview. “The debate is not about whether you have gas, it’s about whether eastern North Carolina has gas.”

Parker and other advocates of the project hope it spurs economic development, specifically the interest of manufacturers who rely on natural gas to operate. While companies aren’t going to be connecting directly to the pipeline, they could benefit from cheaper Duke Energy prices and a more resilient system, advocates have said.

Parker said many critics live in the RTP region, where there’s “plenty of natural gas.” “Yet my community doesn’t have it,” he said.

But, to several property owners along the route, the ACP means unwelcome trenching. Of the 2,900 landowners impacted by the project, 1,000 are in North Carolina.

A group of homeowners along Exum Road in Wilson County are among those fighting against the project, worried about its impact on their safety and property values.

They point to the demographics. Other than Johnston, the counties at play have a greater minority makeup than the state average. That includes Robeson County, which is unique because of its Lumbee Indian population.

“What are we all? Black folks who are retired,” said Alice Freeman, who expects to see the pipeline construction from her bedroom window. “They’re going to these communities because we are the people who have the least clout. We don’t have the money to fight them. We’re easy prey. And nobody is going to come to our defense.”

But proponents of the pipeline – including several economic developers across the state – point to different demographics.

Of the eight counties tapped for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, only Johnston County is not among the most economically distressed counties in the state. And the pipeline, they say, is critical to boosting their economies.

“For us, the overriding factor is the long-term economic development potential,” Patrick Woodie, president of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center said earlier this year, adding that it “outweighs” homeowner impact.

The project is a joint effort by Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Company.