Press Release:      Leaders’ questions highlight community concerns about proposed compressor station’s impact on air quality and health
Buckingham, Virginia – On August 16, 2018, members of the historic Union Hill and Buckingham communities filled the Buckingham County Administration Building and met with representatives of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The meeting allowed attendees to hear an informational briefing and ask questions on the draft air quality permit for Dominion Energy’s 53,783 horsepower compressor station that has been proposed to be sited in Union Hill and would impact air quality, part of a public comment process that began on August 8 and will inform the final decision by the State Air Pollution Control Board.

Over 70 people were in attendance, including residents, community groups, and supporters from outside Buckingham, most of whom asked questions of DEQ, highlighting concerns that have repeatedly been raised with DEQ by community members but still remain unaddressed by the agency. In addition, 107 written questions were submitted to DEQ as the meeting concluded.

The DEQ AIR DIVISION staff answered many of our questions and assured us that they had done a thorough analysis of the application by Dominion ACP. We appreciated their time and efforts to do everything within their jurisdiction to insure that Dominion ACP confirmed to the standards set. There are many issues that they weren’t able to address because of their limitations. These must be brought to the table by DEQ as a whole agency, otherwise the health of communities, particularly those most vulnerable, as in the case of Union Hill, will continue to suffer the consequences of being targeted for gas infrastructures. We continue to be concerned about safety issues around explosions, lack of an emergency plan and the need for a health study and risk assessment. We also are unsure if the standards are really set at a limit that is going to protect us and if the monitoring and compliance efforts will be strongly enforced. They assured us they will be. With our health and wellbeing on the line we certainly hope that is so.

At the outset of the proposal for these pipelines, back in 2014, our growing grass roots coalition asked for a more comprehensive programmatic environmental impact study (PEIS) to be done for the entire region. FERC denied the request. This fractured approach to approving the pipelines allows for construction to begin before all the permits have been granted, before the entire picture is analyzed. This does not benefit our collective health, environment, communities, economies. This is a divide and conquer game plan by and for the industry which has captured our regulatory agencies. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is supposed to be the overarching agency that pulls all analysis together, and looks at the national need and impacts of the energy plan possibilities, but it fails miserably. We would have hoped that at the state level, that Virginia would be able to look comprehensively at the impacts. But we discovered, alas, that our state agencies are not organized nor mandated to look at the complete picture.

While DEQ officials insisted that the permissible levels of emissions in the permit comply with federal standards aimed at protecting human health, they admitted that they did not include the data on pre-existing medical conditions which have been identified in surveys of community households which Friends of Buckingham conducted, including diabetes, asthma and other lung conditions, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, heart conditions, breast cancer and other cancers, and kidney disease. This further highlights the need for a Comprehensive Health Impact Assessment (CHIA). Further, a  Quantitative Risk Assessment should be completed to consider impacts of the station on social vulnerability, economics and home values, emergency response, and drinking water contamination, as well as air quality.

Friends of Buckingham has asked our local, then regional health departments to please do baseline testing. We were sent on to DEQ, which also denied our request. Our state agencies have no comprehensive plan for assessing the complete impacts for polluting industries. So one agency doesn’t work with another to compare notes, to see the larger picture. We apprehended interagency memos, the first one dated December 2016, that showed that the Virginia Department of Health strongly recommended baseline testing of surface and well water, and sceptic fields along the length of the ACP and the MVP. The second memo was dated October 2017, addressed to the DEQ from the VDH, showing a request for baselines had been scaled way back to sample the karst regions [only] impacted by the 2 pipelines. Has that been done by the state? We the people get to pay for the consequences of a system that doesn’t actually represent the good of commonwealth, but is forced to do the bidding of industry. We pay in the form of superfund sites, with our health and our pocket books. The system is literally fatally flawed. Let’s fix it to work for all of us.

Since DEQ staff overseeing the air permit process only have the authority to address air emissions, we are concerned that we still do not have state agencies reviewing affected Virginians’ broader concerns with the proposed station, including evacuation and emergency response, light and noise pollution, or the impact of a microwave tower and other station infrastructure not covered in the air permit.

Friends of Buckingham appreciates that Air Division officials present at the meeting take seriously, ensuring that Dominion complies with the air emissions standards set within the permit and set by law. However, it is concerning that the impacts of anticipated air emissions, and impacts of the station not associated with air, on this specific community’s health are not being taken into account. We hope that the larger DEQ will consider these important aspects to determine if the permit is truly enough to protect community members’ health.

The public comment period for the draft air quality permit will continue until September 11, when DEQ will hold a public hearing, in Buckingham, where citizens can provide oral comments to be submitted to the Air Board.

Anyone can submit a written comment on the draft air permit. In order to be accepted, comment submissions must include the names, mailing addresses and telephone numbers of the commenter/requester and of all persons represented by the commenter(s) and can be submitted by mail (Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; Attn: Ann Regn, Piedmont Regional Office, 4949-A Cox Road, Glen Allen, VA 23060), email (airdivision1@deq.virginia.gov) or fax (804-527-5106) with “RE: Buckingham Compressor Station” in the subject line. The final hearing on September 11 will be held at Buckingham County Middle School, 1184 High School Road, Buckingham, VA 23921, from 5:30pm to 9:00pm.

AUGUST 17, 2018

CONTACT

Chad Oba, Co-Chair, Friends of Buckingham

434-969-3229, chado108@icloud.com

Heidi Dhivya Berthoud, Secretary, Friends of Buckingham

434 979 9732 info@friendsofbuckinghamva.org