USFWS
The communities and wildlife living along the proposed route of the 600-mile-long Atlantic Coast Pipeline can breathe a sigh of relief this week. A federal appeals court has pulled a key U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit, a move that could halt some, if not all, construction of Dominion Energy’s proposed pipeline, which would transport natural gas from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina.
The three judges in the case, brought by the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Virginia Wilderness Committee, ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to set clear, adequate limits for how construction could negatively affect threatened or endangered species, which would make enforcement of the Endangered Species Act too difficult. The pipeline would pass through a steep, forested mountain landscape―one of the most intact landscapes in the Southeast―and disrupt critical spawning and nursery habitat for endangered fish such as Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon.
The court’s decision is a hopeful one for those in the pipeline’s path and for the environmentalists who have spoken out loudly against the project’s threat to communities, waterways, wetlands, and wildlife.
Answering a call to action last fall, thousands of NRDC members joined the growing chorus of resistance by sending letters to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam that urged him to put a stop to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Activists also took to social media to spread the word about what was at stake:
This 300 year old maple tree is in Dominion Energy’s path of destruction. #NoACP #StandwithRed #protectourland #noeminentdomainforprofit #waterislife #StandWithNutty #atlanticcoastpipeline #NoNewPipelines #pipelines #NaturalGas pic.twitter.com/g2AnKZUVhC
— Diane Sparkes (@BlueRidgeCelt) May 12, 2018
They also pointed out the disproportionate impact the pipeline would have on communities of color:
consistently grateful for the chance to learn from the black church leaders + women of color who are fighting racist and unjust fossil fuel infrastructure expansion in virginia#climatejustice #noACP #noMVP https://t.co/A4HwGmSUzf
— Rachel M-G (@rachelmg22) March 15, 2018
And offline, more than a dozen protesters were arrested after participating in a nonviolent sit-in at the office of North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
Neither governor heeded the call to end the construction of the pipeline, which is why the aforementioned plaintiffs took Dominion Energy to court. And when the judges’ decision came down on Tuesday, shock and joy reverberated across the Twitterverse:
I’m stunned. Never thought the court would do it. https://t.co/AM23ebxK8C
— lisasorg (@lisasorg) May 16, 2018
The fight is not yet over, though. Dominion says it plans to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to comply with the court’s order to set clear limits around the impact to endangered species and then move forward with the project. But the latest ruling is a crucial first step toward environmentalists’ end goal—stopping the Atlantic Coast Pipeline for good.
Related Stories
A new report outlines exactly how the two proposed gas pipelines would threaten the state's waterways and reservoirs.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline—and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, with a similar path—could tear up land and negatively impact people throughout Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina.
High-profile disasters on the controversial pipeline prompted the feds to temporarily halt construction, but the state demands a more permanent solution.
DAPL may be underway, but the water protectors at Standing Rock taught us a lot about going up against the fossil fuel industry.
The strong, erratic currents of the Straits of Mackinac could make an oil spill disastrous for two lakes and a whole lot of coastline.
How a single pipeline project became the epicenter of an enormous environmental battle
Armed with 1,000 blue pennants—one for each waterway put at risk by the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines—communities are taking up their battle stations.
Despite a court order to reassess the Dakota Access Pipeline’s environmental impact, the agency won’t share the results of its new study.
The EPA lets states pollute other states’ air, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline fails and fails again to follow the law, and Ryan Zinke actually says the government works for oil companies.
The Trump administration’s slapdash approval process for fossil fuel projects just isn’t standing up to legal review.