PLEASANT HILL, N.C. – Catherine Glover Frazier was excited when her family earthmoving company got the call to do the site work for a compressor station on the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
But in December 2018, all work stopped on the pipeline because of a permit dispute. Ongoing delays have hurt those counting on the pipeline, putting businesses, communities, consumers and workers on the line.
We talked with Catherine about how the work stoppage is affecting her business and her rural community.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your initial response to the pipeline project.
A: It was great [for] this community to be able to work here locally. The compressor station is within a baseball home run of our office.
Q: How has the work stoppage affected your business?
A: The delays and the disturbances that have been caused by the stoppages on the project has impacted our employees, who are not able to go to work every day or [who are] having to be sent further away to other projects away from their families and away from their homes—when they could be working right here if the pipeline was still being constructed and not in a state of delay.
Q: How important is the pipeline to the local community and the economy?
A: As we know, here in Northampton County we don’t have a town that’s over 1,500 people. Closer to a 1,000-people mark. For us it’s hard to come by jobs. It’s hard to come by growth and opportunity here without having to travel to Raleigh or to Rocky Mount or to Richmond. For us, hopefully the Atlantic Coast Pipeline means growth, and means economic success and the ability to turn things around here.
Q: What would you say to those who are opposed to the pipeline?
A: For those people and individuals and groups that are holding up the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in the court and causing these continued delays, I’d encourage and urge them to come to Pleasant Hill, North Carolina. Come to Seaboard, to Weldon, to Garysburg, Gason, Emporia, Virginia. Come live, work and play in our communities. Come try to raise a family here and see how much more opportunities like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would benefit growth. Don’t stay in your big cities where you live at the convenience. Come see what we have to offer and the opportunities that would be even greater if the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would come through.
Our employees are ready to go back to work, and are looking forward to the opportunities this is going to bring not only to Pleasant Hill but to everyone along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Let’s get back to work and let the pipeline come to our community.