A year ago this week, then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe took an important step in creating the state’s first Advisory Council on Environmental Justice. Heeding the principle that “protection of our natural resources applies equally to all individuals,” the council’s charge is to provide the administration with recommendations for action. It’s fitting that the council’s first priority was to examine the largest industrial projects proposed in Virginia in a generation — the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines, and in particular the 53,000-horsepower compressor station slated for a majority African-American community in Buckingham County.

Since taking office, Gov. Ralph Northam and others in his administration have said a lot of the right things regarding environmental justice. His 2018 Energy Plan, for example, declares that the commonwealth “is dedicated to ensuring that there are not disproportionate impacts on economically disadvantaged or minority communities during the siting of energy resources.”

Northam and Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler have also made a lot of promises regarding the pipelines, saying they would not go forward unless they meet the strictest standards and that Virginia officials are doing everything possible to ensure those standards are met. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax went even further on the campaign trail last year, announcing his opposition to the pipelines.

So it’s deeply disturbing that the administration has so far deferred much of the permitting to federal regulators under President Trump, who has no regard for either the environment or for social justice. It’s particularly frustrating because Virginia has clear authority to determine the fate of these projects under the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

So far, the administration’s actions on environmental justice fail to match its public statements.

• On August 16, the advisory council submitted a letter to the governor recommending that the state rescind its certifications for the two pipelines and suspend a decision on the air permit for the Buckingham compressor station “pending further review of the station’s impacts on the heath and the lives of those living in close proximity.” The 12-page, footnoted letter also urged formation of an emergency task force to thoroughly examine the issue.
• The same day, a gubernatorial spokesperson dismissed the council’s letter as a mere draft, still requiring an official vote.
• A week later, the council voted to reaffirm its letter and recommendations to the governor.
• For two months, there was no response. Then, at an October 11 council subcommittee meeting, a representative from Attorney General Mark Herring’s office said the council might not even exist because it’s unclear whether such bodies legally survive the transition between administrations. Regardless, he told them, the council would cease to exist October 31 — its one-year anniversary. This contradicts the Energy Plan, which states that Northam has “continu[ed] the Advisory Council on Environmental Justice.”
• On October 16, Secretary Strickler finally responded to the council with a one-page letter lamenting that federal regulators “made decisions regarding siting, the use of eminent domain, and cost-benefit analysis … [that] preclude us from taking many of the actions that landowners, conservationists and environmental justice advocates have asked us to take.” This prompted the Virginia NAACP to issue a statement calling his letter “inadequate,” and noting the organization is “troubled by Secretary Strickler’s summary dismissal of the serious, pressing and legitimate issues raised by the Governor’s own Advisory Council.”

Northam can remove all doubt by immediately issuing an executive order continuing the council, and demonstrate his commitment to environmental justice by issuing a meaningful response to the council’s seven recommendations on the pipelines, none of which are off-limits to state action, including rescinding state water pollution permits.

The governor has an obligation to act in the best interest of all Virginians. It’s been made abundantly clear the pipelines are not needed and pose irreparable harm to communities. Proceedings before the State Corporation Commission have revealed that Dominion Energy has never studied whether it needs new pipeline capacity to supply its power plants, and that it plans to pass some $2 billion of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s cost to its customers.

So not only would the citizens of Buckingham be saddled with a compressor station that produces air pollution, noise, and the ever-present risk of explosion, Dominion’s 2.5 million customers across Virginia would be saddled with higher energy bills for an unnecessary project.

The Northam administration has said a lot of the right things about environmental protection and environmental justice — but actions speak louder than words. Northam, Fairfax, Herring, and Strickler cannot say these things are important while they undermine the Advisory Council on Environmental Justice and ignore their legal authority to ensure the public interest comes before corporate profits.

Read article in Richmond Times Dispatch 11/1/2018    https://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/guest-columnists/boyle-and-shabazz-column-does-governor-northam-care-about-environmental/article_f096111f-6453-5848-8926-b3b2f843a593.html

By Kate Boyle and Queen Zakia Shabazz

Kate Boyle is deputy executive director of Appalachian Voices, Charlottesville. Contact her at kate@appvoices.org.

Queen Zakia Shabazz is coordinator of the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative, and may be contacted at qshabazz@vaejc.org.