This story was updated Dec. 14.
Virginia’s water control board has approved a water quality certification for the proposed Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline in a 4-3 vote on Dec. 12, but it was not effective immediately. The commonwealth’s Department of Environmental Quality plans to complete additional studies dealing with soil and erosion control and stormwater management plans first, a DEQ spokesman said after the vote.
Elaborating in a Dec. 14 e-mail to OGJ, the spokesman said that the board decided that the certification would not take effect until Atlantic Coast Pipeline completes certain studies, which DEQ then would review and approve before presenting them to the water control board. “No specific timetable was set, though DEQ already has determined that the required erosion and sediment-control plans for the pipeline will not be approved until March or April 2018,” he said.
“The other main reports are on stormwater management and karst terrain,” the spokesman said. “No construction can begin until the erosion and sediment-control plans have been approved by DEQ, or later if the board makes that determination.”
Opponents said the board’s refusal to give its unconditional approval shows Virginians’ concerns about the project are beginning to be heard. A spokesman for the project said it is evaluating some of the additional conditions and would issue a fuller statement later.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would extend 600 miles from Harrison County, W.Va., to Greensville County, Va., where a lateral would then extend to Chesapeake before continuing south to Robeson County in eastern North Carolina. Dominion Energy in Richmond, Duke Energy in Charlotte, Piedmont Natural Gas in Charlotte, and Southern Co. Gas in Atlanta are its sponsors.
The board’s latest action came a week after it issued a water quality certification to the proposed Mountain Valley gas pipeline in a 5-2 vote (OGJ Online, Dec. 8, 2017).
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].