BREDL welcomes Pittsylvania County Preservation League

 

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Summer 2020 Issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Summer2020.pdf

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By Ann Rogers

During the first week of July, residents of Pittsylvania County, VA voted to form a new chapter of BREDL, named Pittsylvania County Preservation League. This chapter was formed for the purpose of stopping the Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is planned to connect to the southern terminus of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at Transco Village in Chatham, VA, then run parallel to the existing Transco pipeline for 26 miles in Pittsylvania County.

As planned, the Southgate extension consists of approximately 73 miles of new 24-inch and 16-inch-diameter pipeline in Virginia and North Carolina, a new compressor station, and associated facilities. The Southgate is planned to terminate at a delivery point with Public Service Company of North Carolina, Inc. near the City of Graham in Alamance County, NC. The Project is designed to create 375,000 dekatherms per day of new pipeline capacity.

The Southgate received approval from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the form of a certificate of public convenience and necessity, issued on June 18.

 

Transco vs. Southgate

The Southgate is the focus of controversy centered on an agreement between Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, LLC (Transco) and Southgate developer, MVP, regarding the use of the existing Transco pipeline right-of-way for the construction of the Southgate. In its Motion to Intervene Out-of-Time issued to FERC in January, Transco states,

 

MVP has only recently provided Transco with information regarding the precise locations of MVP's proposed new pipeline and workspace. A substantial portion of MVP's proposed Southgate project would be installed adjacent to Transco's existing system of three and four parallel, large-diameter pipelines. The new information MVP has made available to Transco indicates that construction and operation of the Southgate Project as proposed would severely encroach upon Transco's existing pipeline rights-of-way and could jeopardize the safety, integrity, operations, and expandability of Transco's pipeline system.

 

Transco's Motion to Intervene further describes the dangerous encroachment of the Southgate on its existing pipeline operations, stating, “It simply would be irresponsible to allow a pipeline with zero operating history to have this type of direct overlay on Transco’s multi-line mainline system . . . Any failure on MVP’s part to properly construct, manage, operate, and coordinate its activities could cause material damage to Transco’s pipelines, hindering Transco’s ability to provide safe, reliable, and critically important service to its customers. . . . Plainly, in the event of any maintenance or unscheduled activities, MVP’s encroachments would present a real risk of leaving Transco unable to access its pipeline, thereby impeding Transco’s ability to safely operate its system and provide reliable service to its customers.”

 

One cannot help but detect the urgency of Transco’s request for help from FERC in managing MVP’s facile appropriation of right-of-way needed for safe operation of the existing Transco pipeline system.

 

On April 6, FERC denied Transco's request for rehearing.

 

Our main concern – impacts to aquatic resources

The members of Pittsylvania County Preservation League have expressed an interest in the chapter's participation as a party in administrative and legal proceedings challenging the Southgate as undertaken by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, a public interest law firm headquartered in Lewisburg, WV. In this context, it is anticipated that Pittsylvania County Preservation League will participate as a party in Appalachian Mountain Advocates' Request for Rehearing challenging the Southgate.

 

David Nimer, employed by BREDL as a research consultant this summer prior to his entry into law school in August, is working with Appalachian Mountain Advocates in developing the factual basis for the Request for Rehearing, with a filing deadline of July 17.

 

Among the issues that David is focusing on is the Southgate's resources. In its 26-mile traverse of Pittsylvania County, the Southgate crosses several water bodies.

 

Please see map of the Southgate's path across 1.5 miles of wetlands associated with White Oak Creek, in Pittsylvania County: 

 

The Southgate's path through an area dense with freshwater streams and rivers raises concern over impairment to those water bodies, including sedimentation, warming of streams through suppression of tree cover on streambanks for the duration of the commercial life of the pipeline, dynamic runoff from tree-free areas during rain events along the entire length of the pipeline, and the planned use of herbicides to control invasive plant species along the pipeline corridor during the first two years after construction. Additionally, the sediment flowing downstream from the Southgate water body crossings will flow into and further damage the Dan River, which has already suffered critical impairment to water quality as a result of the coal ash spill of 2014.

 

Kudos to PCPL!

BREDL is exceedingly pleased to welcome Pittsylvania County Preservation League as our newest chapter. We look forward to working with these protectors of Virginia's water-rich Piedmont.

 

Chapter update: Chatham Citizens Against Coal Ash Dump (CCACAD) and EnvironmentaLee (E-Lee)

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Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

by Judy Hogan

Since 2016 we’ve been in court to challenge the permits for the coal ash dump in Brickhaven, which is located within the jurisdiction of Moncure, in southeastern Chatham County, NC. Most recently Judge Lassiter ruled in our favor against the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Charah, the company working under contract with Duke Energy to deposit at the Brickhaven site about seven million tons of coal ash that's been transported from the Charlotte and Wilmington areas.

Duke is also now building a STAR processing plant to make the ash suitable for cement on the site of the old Cape Fear coal burning plant. We know that the STAR plants pollute the air.

Charah requested a delay in making their appeal to the judge’s decision because of their financial problems, which was granted. So we wait. We’ve been holding meetings on the first Tuesday of each month with EnvironmentaLEE, the BREDL chapter in Lee County, NC. They’re still worried that Charah might use the land they own in Lee County as a coal ash dump. Their county has never had coal ash deposition. The BREDL staffer who works with us, Therese Vick, helps us keep alert on both issues. Cathy Cralle-Jones of the Brice Law Firm spoke with us at our January meeting. They’ve been very helpful.

North Carolina Landowners Fight Atlantic Coast Pipeline Invasion During Pandemic

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

On Friday afternoon,  March 27, 2020, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League’s (BREDL) attorney Cathy Cralle-Jones received a phone call from an Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)  attorney requesting that an out-of-state real estate appraiser be given permission to visit several Eastern North Carolina properties---on Monday, March 30^th. BREDL, and the landowners refused to allow this.

Incredibly, ACP offered to have their appraisers use PPE (personal protective equipment) so desperately needed by our health care providers, first responders, and other essential services. Perhaps ACP and their representatives should donate their supply to their local health care providers and first responders.

Ms. Cralle-Jones said: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is continuing to push condemnation proceedings in North Carolina even though the FERC route in Virginia has been stopped by the 4th Circuit and is pending decision by the Supreme Court of the United States.  As a part of those proceedings, ACP is seeking to have appraisers travel across several state lines in order to enter onto private property so they can conduct their appraisals to support their court testimony and unbelievable conclusion of no impact to any areas outside the pipeline easement.  This is risky, inappropriate and unnecessary pipeline intrusion onto private property that must stop.  

This flagrant attempt by ACP to take advantage of the dire circumstances that communities across North Carolina are facing is appalling and must be stopped. This action also demonstrates exactly how much care and concern ACP has for the communities they are forcing the pipeline through. Governors in the three states (North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia) impacted by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline should act immediately, and tell ACP, as they are telling thousands of other businesses and residents, to Stay Home.

Landowners in North Carolina and Virginia that are facing the same or similar tactics by Dominion/Duke Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, please contact BREDL: Sharon Ponton ponton913@msn.com (Virginia) or Therese Vick therese.vick@gmail.com  (North Carolina)

Zero waste through the spirit of our youth

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

~By Associate Director Rev. Charles Utley

What impact does the COVID-19 coronavirus have on our Zero Waste Projects? As we strive to move
forward to improve the environment through the use of renewable energy and clean-living conditions,
we now face new challenges.

With the closing of many facilities there is a great need to seek other means of communication and mobility. Therefore, we are opening the doors to take a closer look at our Zero Waste Program in Augusta, Georgia. Now that schools have closed, students are now faced with idle time. Although class
work is still in process this is a good opportunity to reach out to students and invite them to participate in recycling. Recycling bins are something that our youth can assist with, determining what they will “look like,” because there are more than 32 million Americans who are confused about which bin to use
for what item. Youth can assist in thinking of new innovative ideas for our goals, 2030 intermediate and 2050 100% clean renewable energy.

With the fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus, it makes me wonder what people have been listening to. When it comes to protecting our environment, people have been speaking about taking care of our world and safe living conditions for centuries. Now, the fight against COVID-19 coronavirus should strengthen our recommendations for Renewable Energy, Recycling, and Climate Change Remediation for the future.

It has been an uphill fight to get people to support stopping polluting industries, nuclear construction, and intrusive pipelines in our communities. Environmentalists have been speaking about contamination that you could not see but that had an effect on everyone in its pathway, regardless of race, creed, color and ethnicity. But too often the plea fell on deaf ears. So the fight continues.

Now that the COVID -19 is sweeping our world and lives are being lost, gloves and masks are being put on for protection. All of this is being done because people are afraid of something that cannot be seen. Before the COVID-19 came
into existence, we faced many arguments and challenges about contamination being produced in our atmosphere. What seemed to be farfetched, impossible and unthinkable is present and is threatening everyone in the world today.

I hope that this pandemic will stimulate our youth to get involved with renewable, safe living conditions wrapped into climate justice and Zero Waste by 2050. And as our youth seek new ways of communication and mobilization, each can also serve as an eyewitness to this present struggle. As our youth gain knowledge, becoming inspired through their participation in their own future, this will provide them with the needed tools for the future goal: 2050 Zero Waste.

Therefore, it is my desire to incorporate within our own Internship Program with Paine College ways to continue our Zero Waste Program with young people’s participation.

MVP contractor not adhering to Virginia Governor’s emergency order

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

~By Mark Barker 

On March 12 Virginia Governor Northam declared a State of Emergency to combat COVID-19.  Governor Northam directed state agencies to limit in-person meetings and non-essential, work-related gatherings.   Five days later on March 17 he announced additional measures saying, “Everyone must play a role to help flatten the curve and mitigate the spread of this virus, and that starts with social distancing…”

On March 23, Governor Northam took further steps to slow the impacts of COVID-19.   He ordered the closure of certain non-essential businesses and urged all Virginians to avoid non-essential travel outside the home.  This was reinforced a week later on March 30 when the Governor issued a Stay at Home order effective until June 10. According to the state press release, this order is “to protect the health and safety of Virginians and mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.” It directs all Virginians to stay home except in extremely limited circumstances. 

ESI vehicles parked off a rural road in Franklin County, VA on April 7

On April 7, many employees of an out of state MVP contractor, who specializes in environmental studies, were observed working along the incomplete MVP route in Franklin County.   Our chapter Preserve Franklin observed several Environmental Solutions and Innovations (ESI) vehicles, mostly with Ohio tags.  

It's hard to imagine why an incomplete natural gas pipeline would qualify as an essential business.  Not to mention the non-essential travel involved. It does no good for Franklin County citizens to follow Governor Northam’s orders to stay home when outsiders, who could very well be carrying the COVID-19 virus into our rural communities, are moving throughout the area. The ESI workers were also observed not following  social distancing guidelines.

This is just another blatant example of MVP not following the rules and endangering communities along its path. 

Chapter update: Madison County Clean Power Coalition works for statewide ban on burning creosote railroad ties for energy

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

GRP Biomass Plant Toxic Creosote Emissions  

by Ruth Ann Tesanovich

Citizens of Madison County, Georgia became outraged in the summer of 2019 when a new biomass plant, Madison Georgia Renewable Power (GRP), broke their promise to burn only clean forest products and instead began burning creosote treated railroad ties.

We saw our air, land, and water being polluted, our health and property rights violated. We united to form the Madison County Clean Power Coalition (MCCPC) in November, 2019. Our mission is to protect the environment and advocate for communities polluted by the processing and burning of carcinogenic creosote treated wood.

Stacks of Creosote RR Ties at GRP Plant

At this time, we began to work closely with a citizens’ group from neighboring Franklin County, GA who shared similar concerns. The “twin sister GRP Biomass Plants” in our two northeast Georgia counties are the
only plants in Georgia burning creosote railroad ties for power generation.

MCCPC held public educational meetings, started social media and website pages, and organized hundreds of concerned citizens. We wrote letters to our local newspapers, attended and spoke out at county government meetings, donated time and money, placed hundreds of Stop Burning RR Ties signs
along roadsides, signed over 2500 petitions, and protested.

We became citizen watchdogs on the plant operations and filed complaints, accompanied by photos, to the Georgia Environmental Protection
Divisions which resulted in air, land and water notice of violations to plant officials.

In early January, MCCPC was proud to become the first new BREDL chapter of 2020. A lot has happened since then. We thank Lou Zeller, Jenn Galler, and Renee Cail of BREDL for offering support and traveling long distances to help us with our fight.

We are working to impose a statewide ban on burning creosote railroad ties for power generation. Those efforts have been slowed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stay tuned!

Cartoon by Lark Treadwell, Winterville GA

BREDL’s new podcast: In Our Backyard

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

Spring 2020 
By Jenn Galler

This February, BREDL released its new “In Our Backyard Podcast”. This is a new media platform that we believe will benefit our chapters’ work and inform a broader audience on environmental issues that are unfolding right in our backyards.

This is different from any other media or news outlet because it is
conversational. You can hear through people’s voices and tones the passion, anger, grief, intensity, and a whole range of emotions that are hard to portray any other way. It shows how powerful our voices are. It’s also a form of personal storytelling which evokes an emotional response from the audience,
hopefully prompting them to get involved and take action.

What is a podcast? Good question, it’s an audio show, spread across a series of episodes, which can be downloaded from the Internet and listened to either on a computer or smartphone. The term “podcast”, coined in 2004, is portmanteau of “IPod” and “broadcast”.

I talk with activists, experts, and people on the ground covering and fighting these issues. The In Our Backyard Podcast highlights a wide array of people and injustices that are happening on local, national, and even international levels. Through interviewing and talking with these people, I’ve learned about
the complexity of the issues these communities are facing and am inspired by all that is going on.

Currently, there are 10+ episodes out, with topics including PFAS, coal ash, nuclear weapons, proposed mining sites and much more.


 New episodes come out every Friday
at 10 AM so be on the lookout. You
can listen at
https://anchor.fm/bredl or
anywhere you listen to podcasts.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18

We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Spring 2020 issue: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2020.pdf
Index to this and other issues: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/index.htm

Spring 2020 

By Louis A. Zeller, Executive Director  

 The death rate of the COVID-19 coronavirus is greatly increased by air pollution. According to a recent study done by the Harvard School of Public Health, “A small increase in long-term exposure to PM-2.5 leads to a large increase in COVID-19 death rate….” PM-2.5 is microscopic particulate matter of 2½ microns in diameter, or one third the diameter of a human hair. PM-2.5 is an air pollutant directly caused by combustion of fuels—coal, oil, natural gas, biomass—or formed in the air by pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles. Its small size allows the pollutant to penetrate deep into the lungs where the damage is done.
The Harvard study collected data from 3,000 counties across the United States covering 98% of the population. The analysis compensates for behavioral and socioeconomic factors including obesity and smoking.* The study concluded, “We found that an increase of only 1 μg/m3 in PM2.5 is associated with a 15% increase in the COVID-19 death rate…” With the expected death toll caused by COVID-19 in the United States ranging from 100,000 to 254,000, this would mean that a one microgram per cubic meter difference in fine particle pollution makes a difference of some 15,000 to 36,000 deaths.

In the mid-Atlantic and Appalachian region of the United States, the midrange level of PM-2.5 is 11.35 μg/m3, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. In urban areas the level can reach 19.2 μg/m3. Three years ago, the same Harvard school revealed that exposure to airborne PM-2.5 even at levels below National Ambient Air Quality Standards then in force increased the risk of premature death. And that blacks and low-income populations had risks upwards of three times as high. Conversely, they found that by lowering the level of PM-2.5 by 1 microgram per cubic meter about 12,000 lives could be saved annually nationwide. But by abandoning the Paris climate accord, revoking America’s Clean Power Plan, repealing corporate average fuel economy standards for automobiles, and sabotaging other environmentally beneficial programs, the current Administration is creating a human tinderbox. The match is the coronavirus. We must be the bucket brigade.

*Exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States. Xiao Wu, Rachel C. Nethery, Benjamin M. Sabath, Danielle Braun, Francesca Dominici. medRxiv 2020.04.05.20054502; doi: hps:// doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.05.20054502

Atlantic Coast Pipeline: The Policy of Truth

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:

 Secretary Regan, is the information in the report accurate? Did Governor Cooper make the decision on the 401 Certification for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline? You and your staff repeatedly insisted that politics would not and did not impact the decision to issue the 401 for the ACP. The communities impacted by this decision deserve to know the truth.

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