Dear John,
Did You Know the Appalachian Trail is at risk because of the impending Atlantic Coast Pipeline? That’s right -- last week, the Supreme Court removed one large hurdle for Dominion and Duke Energy -- the utility giants behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) -- and greenlit the pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail.
The ACP would pollute water and the environment. It would disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous communities. And it would all be to bolster Dominion and Duke’s profits.
But we can still stop this pipeline. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has eight more environmental permits to consider -- and it’s forced to accept public input on each of them. Last week it opened a new comment period on one of these permits, but it gave the public just two weeks to weigh in. The deadline is tomorrow. That’s why we need you, John, to demand FERC deny this permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline!
Tell FERC to reject the Atlantic Coast Pipeline before time runs out!
The 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is planned to move fracked natural gas from West Virginia to North Carolina and Virginia. FERC previously authorized a permit that prohibited any construction after October 13, 2020.
But thanks to people like you and communities on the ground opposing this dirty project, construction has been delayed. Only a few miles of pipeline are in the ground and the project is already 50% over budget. And it could still be stopped altogether with four Clean Water Act authorizations, the Virginia Air Pollution Permit, and the biological opinion under the Endangered Species Act.
The destructive ACP serves no purpose other than to line the pockets of Dominion and Duke Energy and their shareholders. The cost will end up being paid by customers. The pipeline will be detrimental to the environment. The region’s forest, rivers, and streams will be caught in the crosshairs while we’ll be locked into additional decades of fossil fuel production.
FERC needs to put off the inevitable and listen to local communities. We need you to act now. Tell FERC before July 2nd that you oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
25,000 signatures still needed. Demand FERC put people over profits and reject the ACP!
The ACP is an environmental justice issue. If it’s built, it will disproportionately harm poor, African-American and Indigenous communities all along its proposed route. Thirty thousand Native peoples live in the project area across North Carolina. And the plan includes building an enormous fracked gas compressor station in Union Hill -- an African-American community of great historical and cultural significance in Virginia.
In addition to this, the ACP would generate more than 67 million metric tons of global warming pollution each year -- the equivalent of 20 coal plants. The only ones who would benefit from the ACP are Dominion and Duke’s shareholders.
FERC is still refusing to address the catastrophic impact the ACP would have on the environment and communities all along its route. Instead, it keeps extending permits and delaying decisions as the costs add up. We need you, John, to demand the agency stop this project.
Deadline tomorrow: Demand FERC stop Dominion and Duke Energy from adding to climate catastrophe!
Standing with you,
Donna Chavis,
Senior fossil fuels campaigner,
Friends of the Earth
