Pipeline Is a Bad Idea
Commentary from Kim Geddes, as published in ,
Sunday, July 30, 2017
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a project proposed by Duke Energy and Dominion that would bring fracked shale gas from Pennsylvania through West Virginia and Virginia and terminate in Robeson County, North Carolina.
The pipeline would be one of the largest in the U.S., spanning 600 miles. According to information obtained from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality website (https://deq.nc.gov/), “The large-diameter pipeline would cross more than 200 miles of North Carolina’s coastal plain, fragmenting North Carolina’s forested wetlands and pristine streams, sometimes using in-stream blasting in important habitats that support many imperiled species, including birds, bats, fish, and crayfish.”
Oil Change International has documented that pipelines leak greenhouse gases, sometimes slowly, sometimes through blowouts that harm neighbors and property.
Compressor stations along the route also leak and — by design — constantly release gas in to the air.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has calculated that over the past 20 years, pipelines have resulted in an annual average of 49 serious incidents, 18 fatalities, 73 injuries, and more than $35 million in property damage, and they adversely impact surrounding plants and wildlife.
The project forces landowners to allow the pipeline to be buried on their property through eminent domain, restricting owners’ use of their property and lowering its value.
The pipeline could lock North Carolinians into funding a massive fossil fuel infrastructure that could preclude investment in the renewable sector, an investment that would provide many more permanent jobs and cheaper energy sources.
The N.C. Division of Water Resources invites the public to comment in writing on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline application.
Written comments must be received by 5 p.m. Aug. 19, and may be mailed to 410 Permitting Branch, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617.
Kim Geddes, Aberdeen
[Editor’s note: Kim is an “engineer, scientist, access and equity in education advocate, feminist, STEMinist, Christian. Not necessarily in that order.” And also a Democrat and an activist!]