The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s Buckingham compressor station air permit that was granted in January 2019 by the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board. The 47-page opinion was released on January 7. The suit challenging the permit had been brought by Friends of Buckingham (represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center) and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and was argued before the court on October 29. In the 3-0 opinion written by Judge Thacker, the Court remanded the permit to the Air Board for further deliberation on two grounds, as noted in these excerpts from the opinion:

“The Board’s decision was arbitrary and capricious and unsupported by substantial evidence. As Petitioners point out, ACP’s and Respondents’ arguments on appeal read as ‘convenient litigation position[s].’ Nothing more. We vacate and remand for further explanation of reliance on the redefining the source doctrine, and/or why electric turbines are not required to be considered in Virginia’s BACT (Best Available Control Technology) analysis of the Compressor Station.”
“We conclude that the Board failed in its statutory duty to determine the character and degree of injury to the health of the Union Hill residents, and the suitability of the activity to the area. We vacate and remand for the Board to make findings with regard to conflicting evidence in the record, the particular stud(ies) it relied on, and the corresponding local character and degree of injury from particulate matter and toxic substances threatened by construction and operation of the Compressor Station.
“To be clear, if true, it is admirable that the Compressor Station ‘has more stringent requirements than any similar compressor station anywhere in the United States,’ and that residents of Union Hill ‘will be breathing cleaner air than the vast majority of Virginia residents even after the Compressor Station goes into operation,’ But these mantras do not carry the day. What matters is whether the Board has performed its statutory duty to determine whether this facility is suitable for this site, in light of EJ and potential health risks for the people of Union Hill. It has not.”

The Air Pollution Control Board, which last met on December 6, is not scheduled to meet until sometime in the Spring (no date has yet been announced). Until the Board addresses the issues associated with the Fourth Circuit decision, there is no valid air permit for the proposed ACP Buckingham compressor station.

ACP Compressor Station Air Permit Vacated by 4th Circuit Court of Appeals

ABRA CONSERVATION HUB

ABRA’s Conservation Hub program promotes responsible resource management by providing access to critical information needed for effective public involvement in environmental review and oversight.

Following the defeat of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in 2020, ABRA initiated the Conservation Hub to support informed public engagement with the broader range of environmental issues confronting the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Mountain region. The Conservation Hub builds on the analysis and information sharing capacity achieved through ABRA’s Pipeline CSI project during the years of ACP opposition.

The Conservation Hub is based on the use of GIS mapping to provide details and context for land development projects and management practices that involve risk of environmental harm, as well as for environmental preservation and restoration initiatives. The Conservation Hub also provides access to regulatory documents and assessments related to specific projects or issues.

Multiple Conservation Hub sites, focused on individual projects or issues, have been developed collaboratively with ABRA’s partners and allies. Going forward, we invite conservation groups, individuals, and communities to provide ideas for new Hub sites and GIS mapping that can contribute to informed public engagement on behalf of environmental integrity in the Allegheny-Blue Ridge region.