Wild Virginia Seeks Public Records from the Governor on Pipeline Maneuvers

Wild Virginia sent letters to the office of Governor Ralph Northam on November 21, 2018 asking for records related to two vital issues in the State of Virginia’s actions to regulate the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipeline projects.

First, we asked for any documents describing a private meeting between Thomas Ferrell, Dominion Energy’s CEO, the Governor, and DEQ Director David Paylor on November 19th. (See article in Blue Virginia), We believe that while regulatory reviews of ACP are ongoing it is important that our State officials tell us exactly what their relations with the regulated parties are. That’s the principle behind the Freedom of Information Act – that the people know as much as possible about their government and its workings. As stated in the letter to Rita Davis, the Governor’s Counsel, “Governor Northam has repeatedly promised that regulatory processes will be fully transparent and fair.” And while we acknowledged that the Governor may be able shield these records from public view under exemptions in the law, our representatives may waive those exemptions and “[c]oncealment of the information requested in this letter will not be consistent with [the Governor’s] promises.”

Second, we requested records that would reveal the Governor’s process for deciding whether and when to remove members of the Air Pollution Control Board and the State Water Control Board.” The timing of dismissals of two members from each Board, especially the two Air Board members who had expressed concerns about the permit for ACP’s Buckingham compressor station, has raised serious questions as to whether the Governor has sought to influence what are supposed to be independent citizen Boards. All of these members’ terms had expired at the end of June this year and their sudden removals just weeks before the Air Board is to make a final decision on Buckingham air permit, raises serious questions. Was this action taken to influence the outcome of that vote? Can newly-named Air Board members possibly be adequately prepared to judge the complex issues involved by the time the Board meets on December 10? Will this action have a chilling effect on Board members who may question DEQ’s proposals in the future?

Full disclosure in regard to both issues we’ve addressed is necessary and we hope the Governor will live up to the ideals of open and honest government he has espoused. Stay tuned for news of his response to our requests.

Read the FOIA’s here

FOIA Request, Records Related to Meeting Between Governor Northam, Dominion Energy, and State Agencies

FOIA Request, Records Related to Dismissal and Appointment of Members of the Air Pollution Control Board and the State Water Control Board

Spending Time in the Path of a Proposed Pipeline

As we turn onto the dirt lane leading to Spruce Creek Camp-Out up the hill, we run into a small group of folks walking down the road. My husband and I have driven out to Nelson County to join the last of three weekend campouts in October organized by activists on land threatened by the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). We are invited to pull our car off the road and join the group on a nature hike led by Robert Jennings, a local naturalist and grassroots field specialist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. This is only one of the many talks, presentations, and tours of local properties that would be impacted by the proposed pipeline that are being offered by Nelson County residents and invited experts during the Spruce Creek Camp-Outs.

We pause every few meters walking along the land of Jill and Richard Averitt, who have been fighting the ACP that threatens to bisect their property for the past four years. Jennings kneels to pick up a seed, pulls our eyes up the long straight trunk of a tulip popular tree, and passes around a birch twig, inviting us to scrape off the fragrant bark with a thumbnail. “Rootbeer!” someone exclaims. The adults are as full of wonder as the kids. The woods are alive with so
many gifts if only we pause to appreciate them. Having someone like Jennings along can help to slow us down and bring more meaning to our interactions. It also makes what is at stake here strikingly clear.

The main campsite at Spruce Creek. Photo by Sierra Gladfelter

As we reach Spruce Creek, I realize this walk has been a pilgrimage for many here. The sun is setting and the last light filtering through the forest sparkles on the water. Standing on the banks of this native trout stream, I can make out a faint line of orange flagging ribbon running through the trees. This is the proposed-path of the ACP, where—if built—it will tear through this small piece of the Rockfish Valley on its 600-mile path from the Utica and Marcellus gas fields of West Virginia to its terminus in eastern North Carolina. As I listen to the deafening stream, so full of energy in its rush from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the sea, it is hard to imagine this beauty being broken. And yet, this is the fragility of the world in which we live. All of it requires our protection.

On our climb back to Camp to set up tents and prepare for an evening of educational talks and communion with other campers, landowner Jill Averitt points out a string of hand-painted prayer flags dancing in the trees. Made by past campers and volunteers, the ever-lengthening line is strung across the proposed pipeline’s ‘right-of-way’ through the heart of their property. I think about the contractors’ orange ribbon also strung through these trees. The woods, for the moment, are silent holding these competing dreams in their swaying arms.

Prayer flags at the campsite. Photo by Sierra Gladfelter

After setting up our tents in the trees around a meadow, we congregate in its center for dinner. Mike Tabony, a retired tug boat captain from New Orleans turned local climate activist, gives a humbling presentation on the state of climate science. He is self-trained, the most inspiring kind of citizen scientist, who after living through Hurricane Katrina, gave up flying, buying new cars, and has lived a simple life since sharing his knowledge of global warming with others and inspiring them to action.

As the night gets colder, we circle round the fire. Friends and neighbors from Nelson County share stories of their own fights against the proposed pipeline, the court battles they’ve weathered and Congressional hearings they’ve testified at, the stress and sense of loss they’ve suffered, and the fight they’ve supported and are still supporting their friends through. One couple has driven up from Hampton Roads, where their own community is struggling to organize in opposition to a spur of the ACP that is already on its way into the ground. They are here for leadership and inspiration, coming from a community where so many folks, too down on their luck to fight Dominion Energy, have taken a check and gotten out. Fresh to the fight and the full complexity of how pipelines are built and resisted, my husband and I simply listen and take it all in.

Campers at Spruce Creek. Photo by Jill Averitt

To be invited so intimately into peoples’ lives and personal struggles feels like such a gift. I do not yet know what I can do to help, but for the moment just gathering and being present seems important. Although some consider it to be a done deal, this fight is far from over, and even if the ACP goes in the ground, folks all along its path will be standing by their land, protecting what they can, and reporting issues that will impact all of us who live downstream.

For more information on how you can get involved from wherever you are, get in touch with the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance and check out the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, which is rewriting the books on how citizens do science and resist projects such as this. Wild Virginia and many other organizations are continuing to fight the pipelines as hard as we can.

UP IN THE SKY OBSERVING THE PIPELINE WITH DAVID SLIGH

In early October David Sligh, Wild Virginia’s conservation director, went up in the air with SouthWings to view the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and observe the construction currently being done. SouthWings is a non-profit that works for the protection and preservation of the environment through flying over natural areas to educate citizens about their importance. SouthWings offered David Sligh a spot on two of their flights this October to be a guide to reporters that wanted to observe the pipeline from the air.

Hap Endler, Southwings; Tom Field, Valley Business FRONT; Andrea Brunais,
VPI Outreach and International Affairs, ready to fly over the MVP route

I got a chance to talk with David Sligh to hear more about this experience that gave him new perspective and vigor in continuing to fight the MVP. The flight provided the reporters and David views of the pipeline route from Montgomery County and east to Franklin County. This area of the pipeline route offered important views because it contains various stages of construction of the pipeline. These views range from swaths of both uncut trees and cut trees, grading to prepare the ground for the pipes, and sections where the pipes are already in place.

David was especially interested in looking at the pipeline in Franklin county because he heard reports that the construction crew there dug a trench and placed the pipes, but this trench has filled with water, just sitting for several months. This remains concerning because residents worry about potentially polluted water from the pipeline seeping into groundwater and wells, if the pipeline construction crew does not empty the trenches currently filled with water. The view from the sky revealed this concerning spot, with the pipe visible floating in this trench full of water.

One of the most impactful parts of this trip for David was the view of the incredibly narrow ridge tops slated for destruction in order to construct the pipeline. This bird’s eye view of the pipeline route emphasized the full extent of the mountain top removal that MVP will require. The government states that they will restore the mountain tops, but David views this as an absurd proposition, one cannot simply restore mountain tops that have been blown off.

David Sligh on the SouthWings flight with pipeline construction behind him.

Even in the face of this current and imminent environmental destruction in the name of the MVP, David remains zealous and ready to continue to pursue action to fight the MVP. This experience strengthened his concerns about the MVP and helped to endorse actions that Wild Virginia has already pursued with regard to the MVP.

David hopes more government officials, policymakers, and reporters can venture up into the sky and see the impact of the MVP, but even on the ground on your computer you can check out aerial views of construction of the MVP and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.