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.”

Dominion Subsidiaries End Weeklong Union Lockout in 6 States

An agreement has been reached to end a weeklong lockout at Dominion’s natural gas and interstate transmission subsidiaries.

Dominion Hope and Dominion Transmission agreed to end the lockout involving 915 workers in six states, while the United Gas Workers Union Local 69 vowed not to strike. The agreement, announced in a joint news release Wednesday, runs through April 1, 2017.

The statement says union members are scheduled to report for their regular shifts on Saturday. Bargaining on a new contract is set to resume early next month.

The lockout began Sept. 7 for workers in Ohio, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. A union official had said a union committee rejected an earlier contract agreement in part over medical insurance and pension proposals for new hires.

Dominion Subsidiaries Lock Out Union Workers in 6 States

Dominion’s natural gas and interstate transmission subsidiaries have locked out about 915 union employees in six states over what the company says is the union’s refusal to have its members vote on a tentative four-year contract.

Dominion says in a news release that the lockout was effective Wednesday for United Gas Workers Union Local 69 members working at Dominion Hope and Dominion Transmission in Ohio, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

The statement says the union refused to vote on the agreement signed Aug. 26, and its members can’t return to work until the contract is ratified.

The agreement gives union workers 2.5 percent raises in 2016 and 2017 and 2.75 percent raises in 2018 and 2019.

A union official didn’t immediately return a telephone message Wednesday.

Va. Agency Sends Letter to Groups in Charge of Pipeline That Will Run Through W.Va. and Va.

A state agency has informed the developers of two multibillion dollar natural pipelines proposed in Virginia and West Virginia that their projects will have to meet specific environmental standards.

Media outlets report the Department of Environmental Quality sent letters last week to Dominion Transmission Inc. and EQT, saying they will be required to meet certain erosion and sedimentation standards, if they build their pipelines.

Dominion Transmission has proposed building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, while EQT has proposed constructing the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden said Tuesday that their agency wants to make sure that appropriate steps are taken to protect the environment if the projects are built.

Both proposed pipelines, which are pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, are facing opposition from dozens of organizations.

Dominion Transmission Agrees to Pay Penalties

Dominion Transmission has agreed to pay $55,470 in administrative penalties to resolve water pollution violations in West Virginia.

The penalties are part of a consent order issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. A 30-day public comment period on the consent order ends Dec. 18.

According to the order, the violations included slips in pipeline work areas in 2012 and 2013 that caused sediment deposits in several waterways in Marshall County.

Dominion spokesman Frank Mack tells The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register that the company is committed to being fully compliant with all regulations. He says the company didn’t meet its own expectations in certain situations where restored slopes failed.

Dominion Transmission is Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources’ interstate gas transmission and storage subsidiary.

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