FERC releases FEIS for ACP

July 24, 2017

In a Special Press Release on Friday the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Team called the Final Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Federal Environmental Regulatory Commission “favorable”. They went on to say

“The FEIS concludes that the ACP can be built safely with minimal long-term impacts to the environment. The report addresses all environmental and safety issues raised during the review process. The thorough and exhaustive environmental review included: Nearly three years of study by more than a dozen agencies, Extensive engagement with communities along the proposed route, More than 150,000 pages of regulatory filings, and More than 75,000 public comments. The ACP project team has made more than 300 route adjustments to protect important features of individual properties and avoid environmentally sensitive areas including wetlands, public and private drinking water sources, wildlife habitats, and sensitive karst terrain. Many areas of the project will incorporate some of the most protective construction methods ever used by the industry. The FEIS demonstrates that all necessary steps have been taken to minimize impacts to the environment and affected landowners.”

Despite these statements from the ACP Communications team,  fifty-two local and regional organizations continue to assert far from “all necessary steps” have been taken.

ABRA, the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, a coalition of 52 organizations from both Virginia and West Virginia representing thousands of residents, many living along the proposed route of the ACP also made a statement in response to last week’s issuing of the FEIS. They began with how the document “utterly fails to independently assess whether the project is even needed. This is the core issue upon which all other considerations of the controversial project are based”. A final step, a certificate of need” is anticipated in October after some Water Quality assessments by state agencies. Lew Freeman, a Highland County resident and executive director of     ABRA :“FERC’s action is an affront to American democracy, ignoring the thousands of citizens who participated in the public comment process and handing over the private property rights of hundreds of families to corporate interests. As landowners and business leaders, as ratepayers and conservationists, as parents and grandparents, we insist that the state agencies serve the public trust and rigorously examine the impacts of this pipeline in full view of the public.”

Information about public hearings related to water quality protection and mitigation of damage, and the ongoing process of permitting for the proposed pipeline will be available on Allegheny Mountain Radio.

The full text of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is available on the FERC website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Story By

Bonnie Ralston

Bonnie Ralston is the Assistant Station Coordinator at WVLS and a Highland County news reporter. She began volunteering at Allegheny Mountain Radio in the fall of 2005. In 2006 she became an AMR employee and worked in Bath County for eight years as the WCHG Station Coordinator and then as the news reporter there. She began working in radio while in college and has stayed connected to radio, in one way or another, for more than thirty years. She grew up in Staunton, Virginia, while spending a lot of time on her family’s farm in Deerfield, Virginia. She enjoys spending time outside, watching old TV shows and movies and tending to her chickens.
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