Tell FERC to Make the ACP History!

the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

Shane Capra, Beyond Extreme Energy

On June 15 The Supreme Court ruled that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) can cross under the Appalachian Trail in the George Washington National Forest. Doing so removed a major obstacle to the project, but did not provide a clear path to how or when the project can be completed. A thicket of lawsuits persists and dozens of state and local permits remain in question.  

Billions of dollars over budget, years behind schedule, and with no end in sight, the ACP’s corporate owners -- Duke and Dominion -- are asking for an extension. Which is why on June 19 they filed a petition with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend their certificate of public good and necessity by two years.

The existing FERC permit, which has been the source of several lawsuits and legal challenges, expires October 13, 2020. If FERC denies the request to extend the permit by 2 years, the ACP is done. But FERC is not known for listening to public comment, or evaluating fracked gas pipelines on the objective merits of whether they will hurt people, communities and the climate. Which is probably why they gave us a measly 14 days, immediately before 4th of July weekend, to offer comments.

Lawyers, environmental groups, and experts are filing formal comments to oppose the extension of the ACP’s permit. But we need more than a good argument - we need public outrage and attention to stop the ACP.

Sign here to tell FERC that they must reject the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s application for a permit extension.

All signatures received by July 2 will be submitted into the docket as evidence of the public’s opposition. All the signatures will be delivered in a creative, artistic, impossible-to-ignore demonstration before FERC’s next commissioners’ meeting on July 17.

Sources

  1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-removes-major-obstacle-to-atlantic-coast-pipeline-a-long-delayed-project-crossing-central-virginia/2020/06/15/d0f6529c-ab52-11ea-9063-e69bd6520940_story.html
  2. https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/061720-after-high-court-relief-acp-seeks-two-added-years-from-ferc-to-build-pipeline
  3. https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/122366-acp-seeks-ferc-extension-mvps-southgate-project-approved

To: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
From: [Your Name]

RE: Docket Nos. CP15-554-000, CP15-554-001, and CP15-555-000

On behalf of myself, my community and the climate that we share, I write to demand that you reject the requested extension of time to construct and place into service the facilities that comprise Atlantic’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline and DETI’s Supply Header Project. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is an environmental and human rights disaster that you should never have approved in the first place. Since 2017, the market for fracked gas has collapsed, Duke and Dominion have publicly admitted that they lied on their permit application, and the consequences to our climate, indigenous communities, black communities and the public have been laid bare. Let the project die with the original certificate authorization on October 13, 2020.