HomeMy WebLinkAbout20140957 Ver 2_ACP 401 Permit_20170819
Strickland, Bev
From:john_wagner@sarbo.net
Sent:Saturday, August 19, 2017 4:45 PM
To:SVC_DENR.publiccomments
Subject:ACP 401 Permit - Public Comments
Attachments:ACP 401 Permit Comment - Waagner.pdf
DEQ,
Attached are my comments on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline 401 Water Permit.
Thank you,
John Wagner
210 Jessamine Lane
Pittsboro, NC 27312
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Strickland, Bev
From:Celena Bunn-Bissette <cbunnbissette@yahoo.com>
Sent:Saturday, August 19, 2017 4:55 PM
To:SVC_DENR.publiccomments
Subject:ACP 401 permitting comment
Attachments:DEQ letter 8.19.17.docx
Dear Members of DEQ,
Please see attached letter regarding 401 water permitting of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Respectfully,
Celena and Robert Bissette
Wilson County NC
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1
Department of NC Environmental Quality
401 Permitting
Raleigh, NC 27699
Dear Members of the NC Department of Environmental Quality:
We appreciate the opportunity you have given to the residences of North Carolina that would
be adversely affected by the construction and operation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to voice
their concerns. I hope you will had time to read this letter to the end. Please do not approve
permitting for the ACP in North Carolina.
The path of the pipeline will cross the timber and wetland area of our small farm in Wilson
County. We and our neighbors have legitimate concerns about the real possibility of
contamination to our environment and underground water supply. Like many residences in
Wilson County our water supply is from well water. The aquafers that supply our well water
could become contaminated during pipeline construction and operation. Just a few months ago
the Energy Transfer Partners’ new Rover pipeline construction was halted due to a spill of
millions of gallons of drilling fluid. Spills such as this and any natural gas leak can cause water
contamination. I am amazed at the information provided by private studies reporting the
negative impact of natural gas has on the environment. Yet this information seems to be down
played. Natural gas produces methane gas which produces 25 times the amount of the
greenhouse gases than CO2 and other pollutants that cause global warming. The route of the
pipeline will cross nearly every water supply in the state of North Carolina. In the thousands of
pages of the FERC EIS there is documentation of the negative impacts of the construction and
operation of a natural gas pipeline. Quoted from FERC final EIS, “approval of the projects would
have some adverse and significant environmental impacts; however, the majority of impacts
would be reduced…with proposed mitigation and the additional measures recommended in the
EIS.” It states proper mitigation can minimize the negative impact. Who is going to insure this
is done? What happens when the planned mitigation fails as previously mentioned with the
Rover pipeline spill.
There is a lot of press for natural gas as being a clean energy resource compared to other
resource currently being used that produce large amounts of pollutions. No one wants to talk
about natural gas as a fuel source that itself contributes to pollution from sulfur, mercury,
particulates and produces nitrogen oxides which are precursors to smog and again everyone
wants to compare it to the other sources of energy that produce pollution but in reality, natural
gas is not any better that the other resources with its own curse of pollutants it produces.
No one should have to trade their health or quality of life for what some call a cheaper,
environmentally friendly energy resource. When in the end the impact of the extraction of
natural gas and the negative environmental impact which it causes has previously and recently
been reported by news media. The additional negative effects from the installation of a new
pipeline, the additional negative effects of the acceptable approve leakage percentage of a
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natural gas pipeline, the additional negative effects from using an increase amount of natural
gas with its own contaminates. In the end if one were to add up all the negative impacts from
start to finish with this product the negative impact would no longer be mitigatable.
The construction of another pipeline is not needed. There have been documented studies and
reports published that states the pipelines currently in place are sufficient to meet the current
and future needs. A study (Sept 12, 2016) by Synapes Energy Economics, Inc. found that “given
existing pipeline capacity, exiting natural gas storage, the expected reversal of the direction of
flow on the existing Transco pipeline, and the expected upgrade of the existing Columbia
pipeline, the supply capacity of the Virginia-Carolinas region’s existing nature gas infrastructure
is MORE than sufficient to meet expected future peak demands.
In 2011 the Energy Information Administration predicted the Marcellus gas field would produce
around 410 trillion cu.ft. of gas but later changed its figures to around 141 trillion cu.ft which
will last the U.S. consumption of this product to their figures for only 6 years. With this
mentioned why approve the ACP pipeline project with all the negative impacts in which it
creates, as mention in previous paragraphs – which is more important, the short-term profit
gain of the ones controlling the distribution of this product with its energy contributing short
life span of this gas field location or allowing the long term or permanent negative
environmental impact from it. This is no small area that is affect from this. A very large
geographical area as to the Marcellus gas field and a large geographical area with the proposed
route of the ACP pipeline – if one were to look at the map of the United States this overall
project from gas extraction to the ACP pipeline affects most of the eastern edge of the United
states with all the negative impacts it can have. This is no small area in which one can clean up
damages but can be things that will cause permanent damage which will be for all to deal with
for all future days to come.
Please do not approve permitting for the ACP in North Carolina.
Respectfully,
Celena and Robert Bissette
Wilson County, NC
7623 Leonard Rd
Kenly, NC 27542