■ COVER STORY
Supporters say project is needed, but it faces stiff resistance by Paula C. Squires
F
or nearly three years, a battle has raged in Virginia over the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
A massive and complex project, the 600-mile pipeline would tap into the rich shale fields of the Marcellus and Utica Basins and transport fracked natural gas to utilities in Virginia and North Carolina. The proposed interstate pipeline, stretching from West
Virginia through parts of Virginia and to eastern North Carolina, has drawn broad business support and vociferous opposition. Anti-pipeline demonstrators have staged protests from
rural Nelson County to the halls of Virginia’s Capitol. They have stormed the General Assembly, the annual meet ings of Dominion Energy and more recently the victory party of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam after his win in June’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. Interested parties, for and against the project, have
flooded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with 150,000 pages of comments and documents — 250 pages for every mile of pipeline. With FERC expected to vote on the project in October,
Opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline hold a demonstration in front of the governor’s Executive Mansion on Capitol Square in Richmond.
the battle is heading into the home stretch. Hardly a day passes without opponents raising new allegations of harm. Meanwhile, pipeline developers and state government promise the highest levels of environmental review over what has become a high-stakes, fight-to-the-finish drama that both sides are determined to win. Without an inch of pipeline being laid, the impassioned
debate over the ACP already has produced a tangled intersec- tion of concerns: environmental protection, personal prop- erty rights, and the role and influence of Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility and the project’s lead partner. Supporters, including Richmond-based Dominion,
say the ACP would secure an abundant, affordable source of energy that would create jobs and spur economic
www.VirginiaBusiness.com VIRGINIA BUSINESS 23
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