Advocacy Groups: Pipeline Assessment Lacks Real Analysis

Three advocacy groups in Virginia want federal regulators to rescind or revise an environmental assessment of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline because they say it lacks meaningful analysis.

The groups made their arguments in a filing this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They say the pipeline company has filed important information about the project since December, when FERC issued its draft environmental impact statement.

The filing says without that information, FERC, other agencies and the public can’t “meaningfully analyze” the impact of the pipeline, which would serve public utilities in Virginia and North Carolina.

Aaron Ruby, a spokesman for Dominion, the lead company behind the project, says providing supplemental information to address issues raised by the public or agencies is a routine part of the process. He says the impact statement was part of a “thorough and exhaustive process.”