The Virginian Pilot
by Ryan Murphy

The City Council approved an easement Tuesday night that will allow Dominion Energy and its partners to build a natural gas pipeline underneath two of Norfolk’s drinking water reservoirs in Suffolk.

The 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which is expected to run between West Virginia and North Carolina, would include a spur through Hampton Roads to a terminal in Chesapeake.

To get there, the pipeline would run beneath the Lake Prince and Western Branch reservoirs in Suffolk, which are on property owned by Norfolk and supply much of the city’s drinking water.

The council had delayed the vote twice as Norfolk waited for approvals from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which had been pending for months.

The project recently cleared several regulatory hurdles, including with the state agency.

The pipeline is being built by Dominion Energy and other companies through a firm called Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC.

On Tuesday, the council voted 5-2, with one abstention, to grant the company easements to build the pipeline beneath the reservoirs. In exchange, the company will pay the city $500,000, up from an initial offer of $150,000.

Half of that payment is earmarked for the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation, which is developing a multiuse nature trail in Norfolk.

According to analysis by city staff presented to the council, no negative environmental impacts are expected. Opponents of the plan, from activists to the city’s own environmental commission, have criticized the pipeline.

They argue the project could leak toxic chemicals into the reservoirs or further increase dependence on fossil fuels, which contribute to the climate change and sea level rise affecting Norfolk.

Read the full article in the Virginian Pilot