Duke and Dominion Energy’s decision to cancel the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is the result of this sustained resistance and effort of frontline communities threatened by its construction. Families can express a sigh of relief to know that they will be able to continue their legacies for future generations who will breathe fresh air and drink clean fresh water because they have used their voices to speak out against the ACP construction. We are so proud of their efforts to protect the environment and their community’s quality of life.
with Union Hill and Buckingham residents (2018)
Pipeline resisters have always questioned the need for this fracked-gas-infrastructure especially when renewable alternatives were available and preferable. The Atlantic Coast (ACP) routes continued the trend of environmental injustice, as evidenced by the decision to site the only ACP Virginia compressor station on a former slave plantation lands surrounded on all sides by the populous, 85% African American, historic Freedmen community of Union Hill in Buckingham, Virginia.
We thank the many frontline communities that have resisted this pipeline and protected our air, water, and land. Some of the groups include:
VAIPL’s Efforts to Stop the ACP Buckingham Compressor Station
- Our Air, Our Lives: Religious Fact-Finding Delegation to Buckingham County Report – VAIPL
- Threats to Water Quality from Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline Water Crossings in Virginia – Downstream Strategies
- Faith Leaders’ Sign On Letter: Environmental Justice & Resisting Pipelines
- Check out the video below video and other photos of the inspiring December 2018 Stand with Union Hill Concert of Prayer interfaith vigil in the Facebook event, on our Facebook page, and Twitter feed.
A Quick Timeline
2020 – ACP Cancellation & Legal Challenges
In June 2020, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy announced the cancelation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (“ACP”) due to ongoing delays and increasing cost and uncertainty which threaten the economic viability of the project. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was initially announced in 2014. Learn more about the decision here.
On January 7, 2020, the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Buckingham community. This ruling makes it clear that pipeline developers, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, did not properly look into environmental justice in the placement of the compressor station in Union Hill, which is a historic African-American community settled by freedmen. The air permit was thrown out.
2019 – Air Board Approved Air Permit for Buckingham Compressor Station
On January 9, 2019, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board voted 4-0 to approve the air permit for the proposed Buckingham compressor station for the ACP. The choice of the Air Pollution Control Board and the Department of Environmental Quality to permit the sacrifice of our neighbors’ health and safety for a private company to profit is disheartening. Read our full statement.
2018 – Comment Periods and Air Board Considered Air Permit for Buckingham Compressor Station
On Friday, November 9, 2018, we celebrated because the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board decided to defer their vote on the air permit for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) Buckingham compressor station until their next meeting because of health, site suitability, and environmental justice concerns. This deferral is to give the Board more time to consider the information that the public, the Department of Environmental Quality, and Dominion Energy submitted. Read our statement on this decision.
Less than one week after this decision, Governor Northam replaced two Air Board members after they raised concerns about environmental justice, but before their final vote. Both members, Sam Bleicher and Rebecca Rubin raised concerns about the disproportionate health impacts on this majority African American community. Their removal means they won’t be able to vote when the Air Board may decide the fate of Union Hill and the compressor station. Read our joint statement on this decision.
On December 19, 2018, the Air Pollution Control Board delayed its vote again to open a 10-day written comment period for the public to weigh in on documents that the Board received from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) about Union Hill’s standing as an environmental justice community and site suitability for the proposed compressor station.
