DILLWYN, Virginia – Buckingham County in Virginia—with only one incorporated town, a population of about 17,000, three doctors and six dentists—has not seen some of the same advantages of its more populous and affluent neighbors.Buckingham County has higher-than-average unemployment rates and that is one of the reasons the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is so important to the area.“We know historically that businesses, especially in the African-American community, have always been a challenge,” said Joii Goodman, a local pastor and community leader. “In order for us to be able to be over our own economic future, it is vital and very important for us to be able to build businesses so we can control our own wealth.”Goodman and other local leaders saw promise in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas transmission line built to provide ample supplies of affordable natural gas and spur growth and economic development along its path.But in December 2018, a federal court halted work on the pipeline. Buckingham County and others who were counting on the new infrastructure have been in a waiting game ever since.The project could be huge, said Goodman. “This community, historically, has had one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of Virginia,” Goodman added. “Anything that could help, in terms of being able to provide some type of assistance to schools, being able to provide some type of assistance to the community, anything that will help to increase the tax revenue, of course, is something that should be celebrated.”Goodman said news of the pipeline brought hope to the area, hope that has been tempered by the pipeline delay.“People that are looking for an opportunity to work, looking for an opportunity to do something, they get excited,” Goodman said. “They get built up, and then all of a sudden they get let down because of things they don’t have any control over. We just have regular people that just want an opportunity to work to provide for their family, to do something positive.”Goodman said his community in particular could benefit from the opportunities of the ACP. “The main thing I wanted to hit on was just the importance of an economic opportunity to the African-American community,” he said. “We think that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and working with Dominion is an avenue in order to do that.“Let’s stop the delays. Let’s get back to work, and let’s provide some opportunities for people that they would not have had, had it not been for Dominion and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.”