A broad alliance of local and state public interest groups today began the appeal process of a hotly contested natural gas pipeline, saying federal regulators cut corners, ignored environmental injustice and climate destruction, and usurped state authority in approving construction.
Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Duke Energy and Dominion Resources want to build this 550-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from fracking fields in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to power plants in North Carolina. The project is part of a major shift to make gas “the backbone” of Duke Energy’s future, according to Duke CEO Lynn Good. NC WARN is part of the Alliance to Stop the Pipeline, which includes groups in both North Carolina and Virginia. Learn more here.
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Environmentalists just gained a new enemy in the fight against natural gas pipelines — ThinkProgress
The electric utility sector’s top lobbying group is teaming up with fossil fuel trade associations as part of an effort to intensify the industry’s campaign against citizen and environmental groups opposed to fracking and new natural gas pipelines.
Duke Energy Wants to Build a $5 Billion Pipeline Through Eastern North Carolina. They’ll Have to Go Through Marvin Winstead First. — Indy Week
If you look closely, you can see the signs scattered throughout Nash County, poking out from sprawling fields and sun-scorched patches of grass. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are bright yellow with just one word: DANGER. Others are square and white with a circle and a slash. All of them have the same message, peppering a sleepy, rural stretch of land with a small yelp of protest: No Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
NC officials reject environmental plan for Atlantic Coast Pipeline — News & Observer
Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration has rejected environmental plans by Duke Energy and three other energy companies to build an interstate pipeline to carry natural gas from West Virginia into North Carolina.
Disputed East Coast Pipeline Likely to Expand — Associated Press
The developers of a disputed natural gas pipeline on the U.S. East Coast are considering a major expansion of the project into South Carolina, according to remarks made by an energy company executive and interviews with others in the industry.
North Carolina delays decision on Atlantic Coast Pipeline — Southeast Energy News
Faced with a Monday deadline and a lopsided number of public comments opposing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration has delayed its decision – likely until mid-December – on whether to permit the controversial project… [T]he state issued a four-page “request for additional information” … to ensure the natural gas pipeline won’t harm the over 320 rivers and streams and hundreds of acres of wetlands in its path.
Flawed Environmental Justice Analyses — Science
In December 2016, FERC issued a draft environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline… The proposed route crosses territories of four Native American tribes in North Carolina, …[who have] unique concerns deriving from their status as indigenous peoples.
Federal Law Requires Restart of Atlantic Coast Pipeline Review Process, says NC WARN Attorney – News Release by NC WARN
Intervenor NC WARN and two dozen allied nonprofits opposing the pipeline filed a motion late yesterday citing clear federal law that requires FERC to carefully review the new data and prepare an updated EIS, and allow the public, along with various state and federal agencies, to review and comment on the completed document.
Natural gas building boom fuels climate worries, enrages landowners – Center for Public Integrity
But Robert Howarth, an environmental biology professor at Cornell University, estimates that methane emissions produced by shale gas from wellhead to delivery could add up to a 12-percent leak rate — causing substantially more warming in the short term than coal. Howarth sees the rapid rise in gas development as a contributor to the recent spike in global temperatures, including record-breaking heat waves in 2015 and 2016. “The buildout of pipelines,” he said, “is a true climate disaster.”
NC NAACP, NC WARN Launch Campaign to Ban Use of Climate-Busting Fracked Gas — News Release
The NC NAACP and climate justice nonprofit NC WARN have joined forces in a new statewide campaign calling on Governor Roy Cooper to phase out the import and use of fracked gas in North Carolina. They say this state must seize this urgent opportunity to help slow the global climate crisis, especially due to a failure of national leadership, and to stem the many other harms of fracked gas.