Don’t let the SSEP pipeline harm communities!
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Williams Transco wants to expand its network of polluting pipelines across multiple states in the Southeast imperiling waterways and deepening the climate crisis by building a massive pipeline.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released its assessment of the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project pipeline’s environmental harms and is now considering whether to grant a permit for the project. Your help is needed to oppose it.
At a time when gas emissions from methane gas are worsening heat waves and flooding, and producing unpredictable, dangerous weather, we need to speak out to protect our water, air and communities.
We must look after precious waterways that provide habitat to wildlife, supply drinking water to communities, and offer opportunities to fish, swim and recharge. And we must guard our air from the toxic pollutants that would spew from Transco’s proposed methane gas compressor stations.
Add your voice to tell FERC why the waterways, wildlife, air and communities of Virginia and North Carolina should not be forced to endure another destructive methane gas pipeline. Sign our petition to FERC today
Sponsored by
To:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
From:
[Your Name]
We respectfully ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, Docket No. CP25-10-000, as the SSEP project is adverse to the public interest, and the Environmental Assessment does not accurately assess impacts to water and other resources.
The SSEP’s proposed crossings of streams and wetlands pose substantial harms to aquatic habitat, fish, and wildlife, causing sedimentation and in some cases permanently damaging these public resources.
Specifically, Williams Transco proposes 70 stream crossings in Virginia and 87 stream crossings in North Carolina, many of which will use dry-ditch, open-cut methods that risk increased pollution of drinking water and harm to habitat. Trenching through Virginia and North Carolina’s streams and wetlands must be prohibited when there are far less destructive methods available, including tunneling underneath.
The pipeline route directly crosses the Banister River, Sandy River, Cherrystone Creek, which is a drinking water source for Chatham, and tributaries of the Dan River, which supplies most drinking water to Pittsylvania County. The Dan River is still recovering from a coal ash spill in 2014 and is an important source of recreation for the local community. The SSEP project is proposed to cross the Jordan Lake and Randleman Lake watersheds, which together help provide drinking water for more than one million residents across central North Carolina. Also, the project would cross Abbotts Creek, which feeds Lake Thom-A-Lex, the drinking water supply source for Lexington and Thomasville, N.C.
The assessment minimizes the cumulative impacts on water resources from the dual construction of Southgate and the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, a separate pipeline with an essentially parallel route through the same waterbodies. Streams and wetlands crossed by both projects, and watersheds with multiple crossings could experience compounding negative effects.
Additionally, the assessment minimizes noise and air pollution and describes the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the SSEP as “incremental” and refuses to make a significant determination.
The assessment states that “Informal consultation with the FWS regarding the Project’s effects on the northern long-eared bat, James spinymussel and Atlantic pigtoe is ongoing. Therefore, we recommend that the Commission’s Order include a mandatory condition requiring that Transco not begin construction activities until consultation is complete (see section D, recommended condition no. 13).” This suggests the assessment is premature, and we ask that no permitting decision be made until after consultation is complete, or that the public comment period be extended to mirror the timeline for consultation.
A mere thirty days for the public to review and comment on an assessment that could ultimately lead to a project of this scale – that could permanently impact the environment within multiple states – is insufficient.
Simply put, the project will be too burdensome to impacted waterways at the cost of our communities and wildlife.
For these reasons, we ask the Commission to deny Transcontinental Pipe Line Company, LLC’s CPCN request for the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, Docket No. CP25-10-000.