Administrative Watch: DEQ Approves Key Pipeline Permit
Environmental advocates expressed disappointment with a key state regulatory approval for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).
The NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) late last week issued the 401 water quality certification for the proposed ACP. This certification is the state approval needed for projects which impact waters or wetlands, and for which a federal section 404 permit is required. (This 401/404 process provides the core review of major construction projects’ potential impacts on waters and wetlands. The numbers refer to sections of the federal Clean Water Act.)
In announcing the decision, DEQ emphasized its in-depth review of the issues, and its several conditions for the certification, designed to ensure that the construction’s adverse environmental impacts are constrained.
Citizen opponents of the decision expressed strong disappointment in the decision to issue the certification. They noted that the water quality conditions, even if enforced, did not resolve the environmental justice implications of the pipeline’s path through disproportionately poor and minority communities. They also criticized more broadly the environmental implications of expanding infrastructure for transport of a fossil fuel which would increase carbon emissions.
However, the Governor’s office also announced that it was creating a fund to support environmental mitigation measures, renewable energy development, and other rural energy-related measures to assist impacted communities. The fund will be initially financed by $57.8 million from the ACP company and its partners Dominion Energy and Duke Energy.
