Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, if allowed to be built, will be the largest disturbance of land and water in the Commonwealth of Virginia since the Interstate highways were built.  Is it possible or even probable that Dominion can dig up a 600 mile long, ten foot deep, 125 foot wide swath through three states, crossing hundreds of streams and meet each state’s water quality standards?  I do not believe it is possible nor probable.

(Photo: Submitted)

The ACP will unearth 9,090 acres (that’s about 9,090 football fields) – 396 million square feet.  That’s 15.6 times larger than the footprint of the largest office building on the planet – the Pentagon which covers 583 acres.

The ACP in Virginia will be almost as long as Interstate 81 is in Virginia which is 325 miles long.

Have you ever seen a construction site that did not have brown water leaving the site after a rain?  I have not, even with the proper erosion and sediment control practices such as silt fences and catch basins.  Runoff water from construction sites is brown because it has suspended soil particles in it.  These soil particles clog the gills of aquatic animals suffocating them, they die.

State Code of Virginia: “All state waters, including wetlands are designated for the following uses: recreational uses, e.g., swimming and boating; the propagation and growth of a balanced, indigenous population of aquatic life…”

How can any public body or any rational person believe this much earth moving and blasting will not pollute streams, destroy aquatic life, or disrupt the underground water supplies we depend on.

In the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) own written comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concerning the ACP, they state, “Dye traces within the general project area have shown connections of karst features to springs and wells as far away as 7 miles…

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Newsleader – Bobby Whitescarver, Guest Columnist – 08/15/2017