The proposed routes of the ACP, MVP, and Appalachian Connector pipelines.
A common refrain among Virginian legislators is that there is nothing they can do to stop Dominion’s proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines (ACP and MVP, respectively). As they tell it, “The pipelines are a matter for FERC," and that's the end of the story.
Now, even if this was true, and Virginia legislators could truly do nothing to stop Dominion’s pipelines (politically or legally speaking), they could still join their constituents in protesting Dominion. High profile individuals drawing attention to this issue could be enough to dissuade Dominion. But virtually every current legislator refuses to do even that—unsurprising, given that Dominion has pumped more than $14 million into the Virginia political system over the last 20 years, with nearly equal amounts going to Republicans and Democrats.
The claim is not true, however. There are real, positive steps Virginian lawmakers could take, right now, to stop or at least seriously slow down the construction of Dominion’s fracked-gas pipelines. What follows is a discussion of potential tactics, as regards the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), in particular.
**Note: I intend to update this “strategy sheet” as I continue to learn about the process. Updates will be identified and dated as they occur.
(1) Clean Water Act permitting
Virginia’s Governor (via the Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ) has the authority to deny Clean Water Act permits to the pipelines under Section 401. New York's governor has used this approach, denying permits to two pipelines, effectively stopping them for the time being.
The General Assembly could pass a law suspending the Section 401 permitting process indefinitely, or until the pipelines have satisfied a rigorous state review and are found to be the most cost-effective and least impactful options available for meeting the state’s energy demands. This, of course, is unlikely to happen given the cascading price of solar and wind energy, and the serious risks to water and land posed by building a pipeline over mountains and through fragile national parks.
(2) Need
FERC approval depends on establishing that the pipelines are needed. The need for the ACP is premised in large part upon demand by new Virginia power plants (e.g., Dominion's Greensville and Brunswick plants)—in other words, need is being driven by demand from Virginia customers. If this is right, then establishing “need” (in FERC’s sense) may be a state (and not a federal) question.
The General Assembly could pass a law requiring the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to make a finding regarding need and require that report to be submitted to FERC. In other words, the General Assembly could attempt to assert state control over the question of whether need has been established, and essentially take the matter out of FERC’s hands.
(3) Anti-trust/affiliate issues
The construction and operation of the ACP is ultimately an insider transaction that presents a potential conflict of interest and raises serious concerns about Dominion's self-dealing. Because the web of relationships between Dominion Power, its affiliates, parent company, and the ACP is tangled, this point may be hard to follow, but consider the following.
Dominion Resources (the parent company of the state-regulated utility, Dominion Virginia Power) along with a couple of other companies (Duke Energy, Southern Company Gas, and Piedmont Natural Gas) have formed a separate company to build and operate the pipeline: ACP, LLC.
This company—ACP, LLC—will in turn sell the output of the pipeline to Dominion Virginia Power. It's kind of a shell game, but essentially Dominion Virginia Power—which is a state-regulated utility—will be purchasing gas from its parent company, Dominion Resources. Dominion Resources obviously has an incentive to (1) claim that the pipeline is necessary and (2) charge high prices for the gas the pipeline transports.
Customers and citizens should have some sort of protection against this type of self-dealing by a monopoly utility and its parent company. The Sierra Club has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission based on these anti-trust concerns—but (as far as I’m aware) the FTC is not likely to act until after FERC does.
In the meanwhile, however, Virginia law-makers could assert control over this type of affiliate transaction. The General Assembly could, for instance, pass a law regulating this transaction to protect consumers. This transaction should also arguably be subject to review by the SCC under Virginia's Affiliates Act. The purpose of the Affiliates Act is to ensure that public utility monopolies don't favor their affiliate companies when doing business.
The General Assembly could pass a law mandating that any direct or indirect transaction between ACP, LLC and Dominion Virginia Power must be approved by the SCC and found to be in the public interest under the Affiliates Act. The General Assembly could also add requirements for the approval of this type affiliate transaction (such as requirements to minimize environmental impacts, carbon emissions, economic impact to consumers, etc.).
(4) Renewable portfolios
Virginia could also join the 30 or so other states (including North Carolina) that have mandatory renewable portfolio standards. That would require Dominion and Appalachian Power Company (the state’s two public utility monopolies) to obtain a certain percentage of their power sales from new renewable generation in Virginia.
Virginia currently has renewable portfolio standards that are so weak as to be almost meaningless. They’re also voluntary, and the utilities don't have to build any new generation in Virginia to achieve the goals. (My opponent, and House Minority Leader, David Toscano, voted for the 2007 Regulation Act which contained the very weak renewable portfolio standards.) That Act was such a giveaway to monopoly utilities that one industry assessment warned of a regulatory pushback precipitated by “the unfairness and overreaching nature of many aspects of the system adopted in 2007.”
(5) SCC
The last tactic is perhaps the least likely to succeed, at least in our current political climate. (But things may change before long!) The General Assembly could pass a law requiring the SCC to consider environmental externalities when deciding whether to approve new generation facilities (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, environmental degradation from pipelines, threats to clean water). Under such a law, new gas plants could only be approved by the SCC if they were more-cost effective than renewables or energy efficiency programs when considering all the harmful impacts of fossil fuel emissions and transportation.
This would be very unlikely to happen. By some estimates, the health costs alone associated with Virginia’s current emissions (which the pipelines could triple) are equal to about 26% of the state’s annual budget, or $13.7 billion per year. In fact, these externalities are so great that they could cover the entire cost of transitioning to 100% clean and renewable in just four years.
**
The important take-away of this article is that there are legislative strategies for stopping Dominion’s pipelines, or at least making the process so onerous, time-consuming, and costly for Dominion that they desist on their own.
But none of this is likely to occur until we begin electing lawmakers who say no to Dominion and ApCo money, and who are committed to real environmental progress. On that front, I am proud to have joined 62 other House candidates and two lieutenant governor candidates this year in pledging never to take money from public utilities. I have also pledged personally to work to halt all new fossil fuel infrastructure in the state, and put Virginia on a path to 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030.
If you share this vision, please consider donating to my campaign and (if you live in District 57) voting for me on June 13th!
Ross Mittiga
Candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates in District 57
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