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To protect birds and endangered bats, feds reject pipeline bid to continue cutting trees
Hat tip, Ken Ward Jr.:
Kenwardjr Retweeted by Kenwardjr Retweeted: https://twitter.com/Kenwardjr
FERC denies Atlantic Coast Pipeline's request for more time to cut trees
Link to tweet
To protect birds and endangered bats, feds reject pipeline bid to continue cutting trees
BY ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch 20 hrs ago
RICHMOND — The Atlantic Coast Pipeline got a rare rejection Wednesday from federal officials who nixed a request from the divisive Dominion Energy-led project to push past seasonal tree-cutting restrictions that are intended to protect endangered bats and migratory birds.
In an order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Dominion’s request to extend the tree-cutting window two months to May 15 “would not offer an equal or greater level of protection.”
The cutting restriction to protect species like owls, warblers and the Indiana Bat was “one of many” mitigation measures FERC considered in granting a certificate for the project, says the letter from Rich McGuire, FERC’s director of the gas division. Dominion stopped cutting trees March 14 and can resume again in the fall.
Environmental groups have battled to slow and stall the 42-inch diameter pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina, which will carve a 125-foot-wide temporary construction right of way across some of Virginia’s most mountainous terrain and, they fear, endanger pristine mountain streams and other waterways with the sediment generated. Many landowners are also opposed, with Dominion and its partners, armed with eminent domain power, taking dozens of uncooperative property owners to court for access to their land.
BY ROBERT ZULLO Richmond Times-Dispatch 20 hrs ago
RICHMOND — The Atlantic Coast Pipeline got a rare rejection Wednesday from federal officials who nixed a request from the divisive Dominion Energy-led project to push past seasonal tree-cutting restrictions that are intended to protect endangered bats and migratory birds.
In an order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Dominion’s request to extend the tree-cutting window two months to May 15 “would not offer an equal or greater level of protection.”
The cutting restriction to protect species like owls, warblers and the Indiana Bat was “one of many” mitigation measures FERC considered in granting a certificate for the project, says the letter from Rich McGuire, FERC’s director of the gas division. Dominion stopped cutting trees March 14 and can resume again in the fall.
Environmental groups have battled to slow and stall the 42-inch diameter pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina, which will carve a 125-foot-wide temporary construction right of way across some of Virginia’s most mountainous terrain and, they fear, endanger pristine mountain streams and other waterways with the sediment generated. Many landowners are also opposed, with Dominion and its partners, armed with eminent domain power, taking dozens of uncooperative property owners to court for access to their land.
