20140957 Ver 2_Comments to NC DEQ - Rev. Mac Legerton_20170819

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Comments on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC (ACP)
401 K Water Quality Permit Application and Buffer Authorization
NC Division of Environmental Quality
Submitted by Rev. Mac Legerton
August 18, 2017
I submit the following comments for consideration in the review and evaluation of the
401 K Water Quality Permit Application and Buffer Authorization of the Atlantic Coast
Pipeline LLC to the NC Department of Environmental Quality.
These comments are divided into five sections. They are: water quality, environmental
justice, economic development, summary statement, and additional concern.
1.Water Quality, Ecological Assets, and Environmental Threats in Eastern NC and
the Proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline
The NC Coastal Plain ecoregion is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the
Piedmont to the West. In many ways, Interstate 95 provides a North-South marker
between these two diverse regions. Our coastal plain is characterized by species
diversity and ecological diversity. Freshwater aquatic diversity is very high.
From small streams to large river systems, from wetlands to forestlands, from isolated
depression wetlands to Carolina Bays, from surface water to deep aquifers, water and
water quality are the core, natural asset of our State's Coastal Plain. The region is home
to 97 animal species, 224 plant species, and 240 plant community types. Because of its
water quality and quantity, the Coastal Plain and the Appalachian Mountain regions are
the two most ecologically diverse regions of North Carolina.
Over the last 60 years, environmental protection and promotion have become more
central and critical priorities on both the State and Federal levels. There is a long history
of local and state partnerships in the Coastal Plain region to protect and promote water
quality and ecological integrity and evaluate development plans and proposals in
relation to the ecoregion's diversity.
In spite of these assets, the Coastal Plain region is characterized as having critical,
environmental challenges. It is a "dynamic and damaged region where threat abatement
is extremely daunting and virtually always requires active conservation efforts"
(http://www.landscope.org/explore/natural geographies/ecoregions/Mid-
Atlantic%20Coastal%20PIain/). The most significant threats to water quality and the
environment of the Coastal Plain to date come from agriculture, agricultural conversion,
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's), and woodland clear -cutting. A
rapidly rising threat to the region is global climate change and a diminishing water table.

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Most local and regional leaders and the general public are unaware of the seriousness
of the existing and growing ecological challenges within NC's Coastal Plain. The
Landscope America description of the Mid -Atlantic Coastal Plain (MACP) includes this
warning: "Barring major preservation and restoration efforts, almost a third of the
MACP's rarest plants and a tenth of its natural communities are already gone and or
severely degraded, and much of the rest, including almost two thirds of the MACP's rare
fauna, is in serious trouble,,,, Changes in water quality and quantity, caused by
hydrologic alterations (impoundments, groundwater withdrawal and ditching) and point
and nonpoint pollution, are threatening the aquatic systems" (Ibid).
It is in this region of our State's Coastal Plain that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline has
proposed to construct the 2nd most expensive and the third longest pipeline in the
history of the U.S. The selection of the Coastal Plain as the Proposed route for the
Atlantic Coast Pipeline through North Carolina raises very serious environmental quality
concerns and issues. This is particularly the case in relation to water quality. Because of
its diverse water sources and the low-lying nature of its ecology, the Coast Plain region
is the most environmentally vulnerable region to host a major gas or oil pipeline in North
Carolina.
The eco -system of the Sandhills and Piedmont provide a much more suitable
environment for consideration of hosting the proposed pipeline. In fact, the two
additional proposed routes for a North-South gas pipeline through North Carolina
traveled through the Sandhills and Piedmont areas. This issue of the proposed route
and comparable routes is a very serious issue, particularly since the two other routes
under consideration by Duke and Spectra would have routed the pipeline along more
direct routes to Duke energy facilities East of Raleigh and to the Smith Energy Complex
in Hamlet, NC. This issue of the selected route will be addressed again in the section on
Environmental Justice. Based on my own 40 -year experience in working on
environmental and economic development projects, Dominion and Duke Energy made a
serious error in selecting the most vulnerable ecology in which to route the proposed
pipeline in North Carolina. Secondly, it also selected the most vulnerable, diverse
population in the entire United States as the unwilling host of the proposed pipeline.
In my review of the 401 K permit application of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, it is clear to
me that the submission fails to comply with the water quality standards of the State of
North Carolina. The ACP application does not avert and sufficiently alleviate adverse
impacts to water quality and its negative affect on streams and riparian habitats and life.
If the ACP were permitted, it would harm the biological conditions that both create and
protect water quality and the plant and animal life that it nurtures and sustains.
Significant disturbances and irreparable damage and loss will be caused from pipeline
construction and post -construction to stream crossings, beds and banks, buffers, animal
and plant habitats. vegetation, soil profile, woodlands, farmland, and topography. The

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ACP application has not proven that significant damage and impairment of N.C.'s water
quality will be mitigated by the techniques and precautions that it has proposed.
High water quality in the Coastal Plain is necessary to protect and enhance drinking
water. The riparian habit that filters and creates quality drinking water is also home to
diverse animal and plant species that require clean water for their safety, survival, and
sustenance. The rivers, swamps, and streams of the Coastal Plains are utilized on a
daily basis for fishing and hunting which will be adversely impacted by pipeline
construction and implementation. Wildlife is a primary source of food and sustenance
for many. Fishing and hunting are a vital part of subsistent living among the people of
the Coastal Plain, particularly among Native American, African American, and low-
income White populations. The type, quality, and quantity of vegetation will be disrupted
and changed by the proposed project. This will change the conditions, kind, and
makeup of the region's wildlife. Erosion, sedimentation, and turbidity will adversely
affect the quality and quantity of fish and their propagation.
The quality of farmland and crop production will also be negatively impacted by soil
disruption, erosion, compaction. and potential seepage and leakage of poisonous gas.
Soil disturbance and compression will also impact the movement and quality of surface
and subsurface water. Many farmers with pipelines running under their cropland
observe that production is significantly damaged, and often destroyed, on land that sits
above or near its route.
In relation to torrential rain, the pipeline's impact on wetlands will seriously impact their
capacity to store and discharge storm and flood water. The wetlands of the Coastal
Plain are natural regulators of flood water. Changes and reductions in vegetation,
particularly the loss of trees in wetlands and forestlands, will also reduce the volume of
storm and flood water that is absorbed and absolved. With the growing risk and
intensity of storms and hurricanes in the Coastal Plain, our wetlands need to be
protected from all substances that limit this wetland characteristic and role in disaster
relief and recovery.
Finally, the applicant has proposed a route that often avoids open land and farmland in
order to evade elevated conflicts with landowners, particularly when the threat of using
eminent domain is branded in front of them. In some instances, the applicant has
intentionally routed and changed routes, such as in Cumberland County, to travel
through more forest and wetlands to minimize conflict and purchase costs to
landowners. Although there is significant farmland, the proposed route travels through
more forestland in Robeson County than in any other county throughout the route in
N.C. As a result, the proposed route has increased its own damaging effect on water
and habitat quality. A secondary. detrimental impact of this intention is that, in the case
of leakage or explosion, emergency personnel would have additional difficulty reaching
such a site location within riparian habitats. This would further damage the drinking
water and riparian habitat quality of the Coastal Plain.

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2.Environmental Justice Indicators and the Proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline
While the Deep South is the home of the civil rights movement in the U.S, it is Warren
County and Robeson County, NC in Eastern NC that are the home of the Environmental
Justice Movement of our nation and world. In1982, African American residents in
Warren County led efforts to halt the construction and opening of a PCB landfill and
persisted for decades to clean up the PCB roadside spills and landfill. In 1984, a multi-
racial campaign, including Native American, African American, and White residents in
Robeson County began a two and eight-year, successful efforts to halt the construction
of multi -state low-level radioactive and toxic waste treatment facilities. Throughout the
80's and 90's, many communities in Eastern and Southeastern N.C. were targeted to
host multi -state, waste management facilities that included solid waste landfills, toxic
waste treatment facilities, incinerators, and a low-level radioactive waste disposal site.
Working with local officials, the NC Legislature, and state administrative departments,
permits were denied, legislation was passed, and proposals were scuttled by state
commissions and private corporations. Each of these campaigns was won as a result of
significant conflict, resource allocation, and organized, citizen power.
The success that flourished in addressing proposed solid, hazardous, and low-level
radioactive waste facilities in Eastern NC occurred because these conflicts often pitted
state -level Commissions and powerful corporations against local officials and citizens.
This all changed in the 1990's when state officials recruited the hog industry and
CAFO's to locate in Eastern NC with the support of industrial and agricultural
development leaders and local officials. The harmful impact of the industry on water and
habitat quality became known, but did not slow the development of both industrial hog
and chicken farms and production facilities. Both environmental and labor issues and
conflicts surfaced and continue to today. Robeson County's Health Department was the
only local governmental body to institute a health-related standard and rule to manage
the development of CAFO's.
The birth of the nation's Environmental Justice Movement in Eastern NC is, for me, our
region's greatest asset. While Robeson County is known to be the most racially -diverse,
rural county in the United States because of its large Native American and African
American populations, the similar status of Eastern NC is less known. Eastern NC is
home to the Lumbee, Tuscarora, Waccamaw-Siouan, Coharie, Meherrin, and Haliwa-
Saponi tribes (and former nations) of Native people. There are over 30,000 Native
people along the proposed route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. There are more Native
Americans along this proposed pipeline route than any other pipeline route in the history
of the United States. Eastern NC is also the first and primary home of African American
slaves who worked its plantations in the 1800's. The large populations of Native and
African American people in Eastern NC, combined with a growing Latino/Hispanic

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population, make Eastern NC the most racially diverse region, not only in this state, but
also in the entire United States. Added to its unique racial diversity and related to it,
Eastern NC is one of the poorest, if not the poorest region of the whole nation. All 10
counties of persistent poverty in N.C. are in the East. If all counties East of Interstate 95
were carved out and became the 51 st state, it would be the poorest state in the nation.
The history and data on both environmental justice and eco justice indicators and
measures along the proposed route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are undeniable,
indisputable, and unequivocal.
. The combination of its rural isolation, its vulnerable environment, and its vulnerable
populations create the formula for environmental injustice in Eastern North Carolina's
history and present challenge in facing the threat of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. In 1984,
the New York Times ran a front-page story on the two environmental justice campaigns
occurring in Robeson County at the same time. The article quotes Rev. Mac Legerton
as saying: "You take a poor rural county, add a high minority population with historical
racial, political, and economic divisions, you have the most vulnerable community for
the siting of massive waste treatment and disposal facilities". This statement that I made
then is just as true today. In spite of industry assertions, dirty industries are rarely, if
ever placed in poor, racially diverse regions for their people's benefit. It is actually an
insult to the intelligence of knowledgeable rural people that proponents of the Atlantic
Coast Pipeline are claiming that, somehow, the pipeline is being placed in Eastern NC
for the benefit of the region.
In assessing environmental justice indicators, further measures include an evaluation of
existing hazards to both people and place and the cumulative impact of new proposed
hazards on the same people and places where they live and that they love. In assessing
both of these additional metrics, the aggregate impact of the existing hazards in the
region, combined with the hazards of the proposed ACP, are enough to confirm the
incidence of environmental injustice. This reality is further exasperated by announced
plans of Duke Energy to build a series of up to 4-8 major, gas -powered, electrical
transmission facilities along the route of the proposed pipeline. These facilities will be
used to serve the primary growth areas of our state. In analyzing the impact on our
water quality and health of the residents of Eastern NC, the environmental impact of all
of these gas -powered facilities needs to be taken into consideration as well. When
these are included, the evidence of negative impact, not only on the environment, but
also on our people and agricultural industry, is overwhelming. While air pollution from
coal has settled at the bottom of rivers and streams, air pollution from gas-fired, utility
plants have a direct, adverse effect on area farmland, particularly fruits and vegetables
that are consumed as food.
From the perspective of climate change, industrial agriculture is the second largest
contributor to global warming. As we all are aware, the fossil fuel industry is the primary
contributor. What is now known is that methane gas, which makes up to 95% of what is
wrongly called "natural gas", is the most dangerous and destructive fossil fuel and form

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of carbon on the market. While we are beginning to limit some of our release of carbon
dioxide by reducing the use of coal, the temperature of the earth is continuing to rise at
a rapidly growing rate due to the release and use of methane gas through industrial
fracturing. If the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline were approved, Eastern NC would,
overnight, join the front lines of climate change and global warming across the planet.
We would become another "ground zero" contributor and host to, not one, but the two
largest industrial polluters and contributors to global warming. This would also mean
that our people and the ecological habitats where we live and that we love would
become most vulnerable to the risks of multiple contaminants from both of these
hazardous industries.
3. Economic Development and the Proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline
The main case that has been made for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline is
economic development and that Eastern NC needs more methane gas for it. In
examining the case for more gas, this desired interest needs to be distinguished from
this one proposal before us on how to access it. The reason is that there are much
better ways to bring additional gas to Eastern N.C. if that need is warranted.
We can access all the methane gas that we desire in Eastern NC off of the existing
Transco line. Duke Energy could have proposed to run additional lines from the Transco
line at a much more economical and environmentally safer cost if their capacity cannot
presently serve the region. Such lines would run west -to -east instead of north to south
and parallel and avoid many of the vulnerable wetlands, rivers and streams that the
ACP would impact in Eastern NC. While this alternative proposal may benefit our
businesses, and be cheaper for consumers, the problem is that Dominion and Duke do
not own Transco. Instead, they want to build a major, expensive pipeline so they can
own it and acquire maximum profits, including raising consumer utility rates.
There are much more economical and environmentally responsible ways to get more
methane gas to Eastern NC than the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. If Duke was not
allowed to raise consumer electrical rates in NC as a result of building this proposed
pipeline and gas -powered plants, you would see how quickly they would shelve the
entire project.
Review the second proposed route for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the proposed
route of the Spectra pipeline. Compare both of these routes to this third proposed route.
Both of the other routes took new North-South pipelines through counties closer to the
growth areas of our State — which will be the primary beneficiaries of the product. We've
already determined that Eastern NC can get the product in better ways. So, why pick
this third route that is not a direct route to existing Duke Energy locations near Raleigh
and continuing down to the Smith Energy Facility in Hamlet — the final location where
they want the gas. Eastern NC is totally out of the way, placing its most vulnerable
environment and the nation's most vulnerable people at risk of further harm.

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The political and economic pressure by Duke and Dominion's representatives to support
this proposal has been overwhelming. Letters and verbal communications with
landowners have been filled with threats of immanent domain and seizure and false
statements stating that all the pipeline needs before construction is FERC's impending
permit. Dominion and Duke representatives have offered and provided money to
influence many elected officials and community organizations in Eastern NC. The
proposed ACP is their "Golden Calf" for the next 30 years. It is their Golden Calf,
because while it will maximize profits, it will force our State to become dependent — for
the next 30 years - on what scientists know is the most dangerous fossil fuel we are
now using in relation to its impact on our total environment and climate. Methane gas is
overall, not greener, cleaner, or cheaper when its full cost and impact on human, non-
human, and planetary life is considered
In the early 1990's, North Carolina picked the "short straw" and was forced to become
the first state in the South, based on the agreement with the Southeast Compact, to
host a massive regional low-level radioactive waste disposal site. The State
Commission selected two sites as finalists: one near Cary at the nuclear power plant
and one in rural, Richmond County, less than 20 miles from the Robeson County line.
All we that were concerned, started studying, researching, and discussing what to do.
After years of protest, it was clear that they State Commission was going to choose the
Richmond County site. So, we had to study, research, and discuss what to do even
more. We learned that low-level radioactive waste in Europe was stored in above-
ground, monitored, retrievable storage units so that if they leaked, the fuel could be re-
packaged without harming the environment or health of persons and communities. So,
we proposed this as an alternative to dumping it in the ground as was planned. We also
proposed that the waste be stored at nuclear power plants where it is made so it would
not have to be transported, place other communities at risk, and would be secure and
safe from terrorist attacks if it remained at its place of origin. After years of conflict, all
but one of the multi -state compacts in the country folded and low-level radioactive waste
remained being stored, where it still is today, safely at nuclear power plant sites.
I share this history for a particular reason. By researching and finding the most
environmentally responsible solution that also protected human and community health,
we created an incentive for the utility industry to "think the unthinkable" and take the
most appropriate and responsible action. We need to all learn from this example and
use the same practice in relation to the use of methane gas. We need to limit its use as
much as possible and create additional incentives to move as rapidly and expeditiously
toward the expanded use of renewable energy sources. If industries want to use
methane gas and cannot be convinced otherwise, gas can be accessed from the
existing Transco line or new lines, including those owned by Duke Energy, without
constructing a new, highly expensive pipeline that places our environment, our people,
and the we consumers at risk and creates 30 years of dependency on the inevitable
decline of fossil fuel use. If we construct the proposed ACP and construct multiple, gas -
powered plants, there will be no major incentive to move as rapidly as possible toward

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renewable energy sources. Also, if we and Duke and Dominion, and developers are
truly interested in the economic development of Eastern NC, the jobs and industrial
growth are in renewables, not fossil fuels.
In relation to economic development in Eastern NC, resident landowners and
communities have already determined the region's major asset and contribution to
helping to meet our state and nation's present and future energy needs. The Coastal
Plain of Eastern NC is the hub of solar energy development in North Carolina because
of its major resource of open land, big sky, and an: abundance of average daily sunlight
in all four seasons. The solar energy industry has become a major employer in Eastern
NC and a major development driver with a product that is good for wage earners,
businesses, and the environment. The methane gas and fossil fuel industry cannot
compete with the renewable energy when it comes to job creation, economic
development, and environmental health and safety. Proponents of the pipeline either
lack knowledge of these assets and comparative analysis, are unaware of existing
opportunities to access additional gas, or are supporting the proposed pipeline for some
other, gratuitous reason.
We as a state and nation can now move directly to renewable forms of energy to supply
our future energy needs. A 50 -state plan, called "The Solutions Project" documents and
designs a practical model based on the large-scale integration of wind, water, solar,
heat storage, cold, and other forms of electricity into the power grid. We don't need a
short-term, "bridge" to renewables that will create massive dependency on methane
gas.
Published this month of August, a new report entitled NC Clean Path 2025 documents
how North Carolina can reduce power generated by coal and natural gas-fired plants by
57% by 2025. Published by NCWARN and written by Bill Powers, a leading national
expert in energy and energy engineering, the report proposes a renewable and clean
energy future for NC with a viable plan to reduce greenhouse emissions in NC by 100%
by 2030. To reach this goal, the report outlines how North Carolina can further develop
its renewable energy resources, promote economic development and jobs, and use
methane gas as a back-up supply only. To use methane gas as a back-up supplier will
not require the development of any further multi -state pipelines or gas-fired plants.
4. Summary Statement
With ample data and testimony gathered in public hearings, listening sessions, and
written comments, NC DEQ staff now have all the environmental and environmental
justice data it needs to review the ACP permit application with a more critical eye. This
is democracy at work. I am confident that DEQ staff have more than enough evidence
to rule that the ACP is not in compliance with the 401 K water quality certification, buffer
authorization, and environmental justice standards of the State of North Carolina as
required by the federal Clean Water Act and state riparian buffer rules. I am further
convinced that NC DEQ staff have more than sufficient evidence to deny the 401 K
Water Quality Permit and withstand a legal challenge by Dominion and Duke to overturn

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it. I further hope that my oral and written comments regarding the economic and
economic development case for the pipeline result in that argument being put to rest.
We can access all the gas that developers want in Eastern NC in a much more
economical and environmentally responsible way. Once the proposed pipeline is
denied, we can sit down together in Eastern NC with all of our elected officials,
developers, job advocates, state departments and divisions, and citizens. We can then,
determine together, how we move forward to supply our energy, job, and economic
development needs in a way that benefits our entire region and does not pit us against
each other.
The major weakness in our approach to economic development in North Carolina is that
the "tail often wags the dog". Our community leaders frequently find themselves reacting
to individual and isolated proposals for particular private, development projects outside
of a broader context that compares all potential development strategies as a whole. This
pattern is unfortunate for many reasons. In relation to permitting, it leaves the major
responsibility for such cumulative and comprehensive review and comparison to state
permitting agencies during the application process. In the case of the proposed ACP
project, such a cumulative and comprehensive review only confirms the evidence that
demonstrates that it is not in compliance with state water quality and riparian buffer
standards and rules.
5. Additional Concern
The ACP is not ending at Prospect and Pembroke in the heart of the Lumbee and
Tuscarora community of Robeson County. It is ending at Duke's gas -powered, Smith
Facility near Hamlet. If that's where Duke ultimately want the gas to go, why aren't they
routing the pipeline directly there and also near a facility East of Raleigh? Why is this
Piedmont Gas Pipeline, the third to go through the Indian territory of Prospect,
segmented out of the proposed ACP? If it were included, it might then be seen to be
paralleling the existing line that Duke now owns. If it were included, it might become
more evident that this additional route is being constructed so Duke won't have to
continue buying gas from Transco to serve the Hamlet facility. It is paralleling the
existing Duke -owned, Piedmont Gas pipeline and does not need to be built except to
provide additional profits at our consumer expense. Piedmont Gas has already stated
that they plan to ask for a rate hike to cover a percentage of the cost of this un-
necessary pipeline. The segmentation of this section of the same pipeline "by a different
name" also raises serious legal questions that places this extended pipeline route
outside the standards and reviews of both state and federal environmental permits,
including addition environmental and environmental justice concerns.