Little fanfare surrounded the state Department of Environmental Quality’s most recent decision to issue an air quality permit connected with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.
The permit, issued Tuesday, Feb. 27, is for the Northampton Compressor Station. It isn’t the last permit necessary for the 600-mile pipeline that would transmit fracked natural gas from West Virginia, through southeastern Virginia, and across eight North Carolina counties in the Interstate 95 corridor.
In contrast, a political scuffle ensued after DEQ issued a water permit Jan. 26 to the energy company coalition that would operate the pipeline.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced a $57.8 million escrow fund under his control minutes after that water permit was approved. The fund would have evaded normal legislative spending procedures. It created a firestorm that ended with the Republican-controlled General Assembly passing House Bill 90 to redirect the money to school districts in the eight counties.
Cooper planned to use the fund for unspecified mitigation, economic development, and renewable energy projects. But he said he would allow the bill to become law without his signature because H.B. 90 also included funding to reduce public school class sizes in lower grades.
According to a news release, DEQ’s Division of Air Quality staff revised the original draft permit to better address emissions, and require future permit modifications if needed.
“DEQ actively sought public input on the air quality permit for this project. We received more than 3,700 comments, and improved the permit based on that public feedback,” DEQ Secretary Michael Regan said in the news release. “This permit requires the company to revise its air emissions projections to ensure better protections for North Carolinians and our environment.”
The Division of Air Quality staff conducted a comprehensive review of project plans and conducted a broad public engagement process including a public hearing on Nov. 15, and a public comment and feedback period, the release said.
Based on those public comments, the division required the company to perform additional air toxics analysis on projected emissions from the compressor station. The supplementary data demonstrated that emissions would be within acceptable thresholds. The division also added air permit conditions to require future analyses if emissions change.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline still must obtain a federal 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for stream and wetland impacts, and an individual state stormwater permit for a construction yard in Cumberland County.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the lead regulatory agency for natural gas pipeline projects. That agency approved the project on Oct. 13 following a public review of the project’s environmental impact statement and a public comment period.
For more information on the pipeline project or to review the approved permits and related documents, visit: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/energy-mineral-land-resources/acp.