A West Virginia House of Delegates resolution introduced on January 14 would invite Virginia counties or independent cities that are dissatisfied with prospective legislation in the Virginia General Assembly on gun control to leave Virginia and become part of West
Top Democrat Energy Staffer Joins Duke Energy as VP
The Democrat Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sarah Venuto, has been named Vice President of Public Policy for Duke Energy. She began her duties on January 13. Ms. Venuto was appointed to the
ACP Compressor Station Air Permit Vacated by 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
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
Weakened Environmental Reviews of Pipelines, Other Projects Are Proposed
The White House announced on January 9 a sweeping change in the requirements for reviewing certain infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Heralded as a “modernization” of NEPA, which was enacted in 1970, the proposal would make
Dominion Fails to Convince Congress to Address AT Crossing Issue
Efforts by Dominion Energy to convince Congress to approve having the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) cross the Appalachian National Scenic Trail have not yielded results. For most of the past year Dominion has been seeking to have a rider added
Methane: A Growing Problem
Leaking methane from natural gas pipelines and other related infrastructure is a much more serious problem than had been previously recognized, according to new studies released in the past week. ABRA and its members have long argued that the Atlantic
Briefs in Support of Dominion on AT Issue Filed With Supreme Court
Amicus briefs in support of the appeal by the U.S. Forest Service and Atlantic Coast, LLC to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Cowpasture River, et. al. case were filed on December 9. As noted in last week’s ABRA Update,
Fish and Wildlife Service Proceeding on Redrafting of New Permit
The biological opinion and taking statement issued for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and twice struck down by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (most recently in July of this year), is
Charitable Gifts by Utilities Used to Win Public Support, New Study Says
In a first-of-its-kind analysis, the Energy and Policy Institute (EPI) has examined the philanthropic contributions of 10 leading investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S. EPI found that “all of these major utilities use their charitable giving to manipulate politics, policies
Appeal of Forest Service Case Scheduled for Supreme Court Argument
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that the appeal of the case vacating the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s (ACP) permit from the U.S. Forest Service to build across Forest Service land is scheduled for oral argument on Monday, February 24, 2020