trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/xrbzehu2mbnhqqn8asf6jg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Report: NC officials spar over environmental mitigation fund for Atlantic Coast

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


Report: NC officials spar over environmental mitigation fund for Atlantic Coast

North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality denied GOP legislators' claims that money funneled into an environmental mitigation fund set up for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline influenced its decisions on granting permits, The Robesonian of Robeson County, N.C., reported March 6.

The natural gas pipeline's developers, Dominion Energy Inc., Duke Energy Corp., Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc. and Southern Co. Gas, are expected to put $57.8 million into a fund established to mitigate the project's effects on the environment and natural resources. The developers are also expected to support economic development in the counties affected by the pipeline: Robeson, Cumberland, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Northampton and Sampson, the report said. The fund resulted from an agreement between the developers and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's office.

Sheila Holman, DEQ assistant secretary for the environment, said March 6 in response to questions from the General Assembly's energy policy committee that the fund had nothing to do with the department's decisions on the project. Republican lawmakers previously had argued that Cooper's administration took the money in exchange for permit approvals. Cooper denied the allegation, saying the fund was a voluntary contribution.

The North Carolina Legislature passed a bill Feb. 13 to reallocate the fund toward the educational needs of area school districts instead of toward environmental mitigation. With Cooper planning to take no action on the bill, the bill is expected to become law 30 days after it was passed. The governor said the bill makes it uncertain whether the developers will still put the money into the fund, according to the report.

The DEQ granted a Clean Water Act Section 401 permit to the pipeline Jan. 26, and the project also received conditional water permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, West Virginia and Virginia. The 1.5-Bcf/d, 600-mile pipeline would begin in West Virginia, pass through Virginia and eastern North Carolina and end in Robeson County.