Administrative Watch: Split Virginia Board Approves Pipeline Permit
A narrow vote of contingent approval for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline by a key Virginia regulatory body leaves North Carolina as the biggest remaining state hurdle for the pipeline to leap.
The pipeline has received regulatory approvals at the federal level (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC), in West Virginia, and now in Virginia. North Carolina’s environmental agencies continue to insist on more complete information about the project’s potential water quality and other impacts before issuing key permits.
Even in Virginia, however, the 4-3 vote by the Virginia State Water Control Board to issue a water quality certification was not a clear-cut win for the pipeline’s backers. Instead, the approval was contingent on that state’s Department of Environmental Quality completing its own review and approval of multiple submitted plans and mitigation measures.
In the meantime, legal challenges to the regulatory approvals which have been issued are already underway through the courts.
