A February 11 request by Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC (ACP, LLC) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to authorize additional stabilization measures for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline – including new trenching – has been challenged by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Appalachian Mountain Advocates (Appalmad) and Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). FERC had granted the ACP, LLC request on February 13.
In a February 15 letter to FERC, SELC, Appalmad and CBF – writing on behalf of their respective clients – argued that trenching “is not necessary to stabilize a right-of-way; on the contrary, it is one of the most destabilizing activities involved in pipeline construction. . . Far from a stabilization method, trenching actually demands further mitigation measures due to its destabilizing effects on a landscape.”