Although construction on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) has been underway in West Virginia and North Carolina, permits have been thrown out consistently in Virginia, causing construction in the Commonwealth to fall behind schedule. However, on Friday, environmental regulators approved engineering plans for the ACP, meaning the project has the state’s permission to begin.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has approved the ACP’s proposed Erosion and Sediment Control, Stormwater Management, and Karst Protection plans that specify engineering designs that will protect water quality during and after pipeline construction, which stretches over 300 miles through the state. Executives with the ACP will now request a notice to proceed with full construction from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Pipeline spokesman Aaron Ruby called the approval a “major step forward.”
“Thousands of hardworking Virginians and local businesses across the state will soon be hard at work building this transformational project,” he said in a statement, according to AP.
Multiple environmental groups throughout the Commonwealth have argued that the engineering plans and permits should not have been approved. Numerous legal challenges have been filed against a number of other permits, all of which have led to project delays.
“We simply don’t need hundreds of miles of costly and environmentally destructive gas infrastructure to keep the lights on in Virginia, but sadly, this approval is a step toward marrying Virginia to a future of higher energy costs and volatile fossil fuels for years to come while Dominion Energy profits handsomely at our expense,” said Lee Francis, deputy director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.
Richmond-based Dominion Energy and supporters of both the ACP and the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) have reiterated that the project will help Virginia and the U.S. achieve a greater sense of energy independence, create jobs, lure new manufacturers to the area, lower energy costs, and help utilities transition away from coal.
Previously, those with Dominion Energy and ACP construction have said that delays have pushed the completion date of the project back to late 2019. Ruby explained executives are still evaluating whether legal challenges that have led to halts in construction have had any more long-term impacts on that timeline.