Journalist Jonathan Mingle was covering the energy beat in 2018, writing about fracking and plans to build a pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. At first, it was a business story, and then it morphed into a book.
“The fact that folks from different walks of life, different perspectives were coming together to oppose this project, I started thinking maybe there’s a bigger story here worth a wider hearing,” he recalls.
There were people losing land that had been in their families since the 1700’s and folks who thought investing in more fossil fuel infrastructure was immoral in the age of climate change. Members of the Union Hill Baptist Church in Buckingham County made common cause with residents of a neighboring community called Yogaville. And all of them felt the 600-mile pipeline was unnecessary.
“They forced scrutiny on a project that was really not getting a lot of scrutiny from regulators, and they fought it on every front," Mingle explains. "They didn’t have a game plan at the beginning, but they seemed to have a conviction that they could pull it off against all odds.”
Dominion and its partner, Duke Energy, fought to keep the project alive. Federal law guaranteed developers a 14% rate of return on their investment – better than they could do with conservation, wind or solar energy. But those who opposed the pipeline thought time was on their side.
“The opponents were successful in slowing it down by challenging certain key permits that the project needed – state and federal permits. Over six years, politics changed, solar, wind, battery storage got cheaper and cheaper. Wall Street noticed that, and the appetite for this risky project declined.”
After six years and the investment of $2.8 billion, Dominion pulled the plug, and some people who had fought the ACP headed off to help those who wanted to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. That project, however, was pretty far along when Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia cut a deal with the Biden administration. In exchange for his support on a bill to raise the debt ceiling, Congress added a provision making it unnecessary for the MVP to get any more permits.
Today, author Jonathan Mingle says there are new battles ahead for those who oppose further development of methane – which the industry rebranded as natural gas— a clean source of energy.
“It is a fossil fuel— a very potent greenhouse gas that leaks from valves and pipes and you name it. The new administration in Washington is trying to expedite permitting for pipelines and gas export facilities, and so we’re in a moment where we’re going to see another dash for gas, and any concerns about the climate impacts of that investment or risks to local communities are being sidelined.”
Transco Williams, for example, wants to add 55 miles to its current network of pipelines in five southern states, beginning work in Pittsylvania County. The project would also involve four compressor stations in North Carolina and Virginia. The Southeast Supply Enhancement Project has drawn opposition from the Southern Environmental Law Center which helped opponents fight the ACP.
Jonathan Mingle’s book is Gaslight: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Fight for America's Energy Future.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
