According to a new analysis released this week, two proposed pipeline projects in the state could have significant environmental impacts.
From the very beginning, the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines have been highly scrutinized. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released a statement detailing the potential environmental impacts of the pipelines last year, and ever since environmental groups have claimed that statement just isn’t as detailed as it needs to be.
One of those groups is non-profit Oil Change International, where Lorne Stockman has led efforts to fully detail the proposed pipelines' footprint on the local environment:
“We find that Mountain Valley Pipeline would cause annual emissions of 90 million metric tons and that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would be about 68 million tons annually. Together, the emissions are equivalent to 46 average U.S. coal plants.”
Stockman says that FERC drafted its statement using outdated data and has underestimated the environmental impacts of natural gas.
He hopes the analysis will inspire citizens to call on FERC to take a second look:
“We hope that citizens will go out there and talk to FERC and use our briefings to provide FERC with the correct facts and figures.”
FERC is still accepting public comments on both of the pipeline projects.
