Atlantic Coast Pipeline suffers legal setback
Opponents of the planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline are celebrating after a federal court in Virginia invalidated a key permit for the project on January 7.
The three-judge panel said the state’s air pollution board had not fully considered how building a natural gas compressor—essentially the engine that would power the pipeline—in the predominantly black community of Union Hill would disproportionately affect the health of black people. The judges also agreed that the air pollution board had failed to consider using zero-emission electric turbines for the compressor rather than ones fired by gas.
According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, this is the eighth time since May 2018 that a federal court or agency has revoked or suspended a permit for the pipeline.
In its July 17, 2019, issue, the Christian Century published a story about the efforts Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church, a historic black church, had taken to protest the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
