You had something to hide, should have hidden it, shouldn't you. Now you're not satisfied with what you're being put through ~Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode
The letter pasted below was sent to the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on December 31, 2019. Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League works with impacted landowners and residents in the path of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The day that DEQ announced the approval of the major water quality permit for the ACP, the Governor announced a "mitigation fund." This understandably raised questions and concerns in the communities impacted by the pipeline. After reviewing over 20,000 pages of emails, notes, and texts released by the Cooper Administration ( took almost a year to get them) we had more questions regarding the the approval of the ACP. For example, impacted communities repeatedly asked to meet with Governor Cooper; to no avail. Yet he had plenty of time to meet with Duke and Dominion Energy, major partners in the ACP. Questions remain. The farmers and families in the path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline deserve answers.
Dear Secretary Regan:
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) has
chapters in 7 of the 8 counties impacted by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). Members of our chapters are landowners,
families that live within the “blast zone” of the proposed pipeline, and other
concerned residents. On January 26, 2018, the North Carolina Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued the 401 Water Quality Certification (401)
for the ACP. On the same day, Governor Roy Cooper announced a “Memorandum of Understanding”
(MOU) with ACP that would establish a 57.8 million dollar “mitigation” fund.
Immediately, communities impacted by the proposed pipeline, the media,
environmental advocates and others began questioning the integrity of the 401
Certification.
From the time that ACP submitted their application for
the 401 in May of 2017, DEQ repeatedly assured the public that decisions about
the permit would be based strictly on science. In addition to the questions
raised about the process by the establishment of the MOU and the concurrent announcement
of the 401, public records released by the Cooper Administration in December of
2018 cast additional doubt on the permitting process. [1]
On December 12, 2018, investigators were retained by
the North Carolina General Assembly to look into the ACP MOU. On November 20,
2019, the investigators, Eagle Intel Services, LLC (Eagle) presented their
report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations Atlantic
Coast Pipeline Subcommittee. The report makes a troubling claim—that “The
Governor controlled the 401 Water Quality Certification (401 WQC), process and
timing of issuance at the North Carolina Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ), being sought by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) partnership,
in which Duke was a partner.”[2]
This claim is supported by Eagle’s interview[3] with Kathy Hawkins, the
North Carolina Vice-President of Governmental Affairs for Duke Energy. Eagle’s
report of the interview states that “As previously discussed with the
investigators, she recalled, on December 19, 2017, that he [Ken Eudy- Senior
policy Advisor to Governor Roy Cooper] told her [Kathy Hawkins] the Governor
and not Secretary Regan would be making the decision on the 401 Certification.”
Ms. Hawkins also provided a text that she sent to Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good:
We look forward to your answer.
Sincerely,
Therese Vick
North Carolina Healthy, Sustainable Communities/Coal
Ash Campaign Coordinator
[1] Fain,
Travis and Dukes, Tyler. “Cooper administration releases thousands of Atlantic
Coast Pipeline documents.” WRAL.com.
20 December 2018, https://www.wral.com/cooper-administration-releases-thousands-of-atlantic-coast-pipeline-documents/18078236/.
Note: In January 2018, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) requested
meeting and call notes, texts, emails and phone logs from DEQ staff, including
upper management. While permitting staff provided some of these records, most
in upper management did not. In fact, there were emails to some of these
individuals in the records released by the Administration that had not been
provided to BREDL by DEQ.
[2]
Eagle
Intel Services, LLC. Report for Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental
Operations of the North Carolina General Assembly on the Atlantic Coast
Pipeline. 20 November 2019. Page 10.
[3] Eagle
Intel Services, LLC. Report of Interview. 18 November 2019. https://www.ncleg.gov/documentsites/committees/govops/Subcommittee--Atlantic%20Coast%20Pipeline/3._November%202019/Documents%20for%2011.20.19%20Meeting/Exhibits/DUKE-11%20(Kathy%20Hawkins%20Interview%2011-18-19).pdf
