North Carolinians walking the route of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline in 2017 to protest the project.
Despite vigorous opposition from thousands of citizens across the state to the controversial, interstate fracked-gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Gov. Roy Cooper announced today that the state has approved a water quality permit for the roughly 160-mile section of the project that would cut through North Carolina. The massive pipeline would run through eight rural eastern North Carolina counties, and cross streams, rivers and wetlands 326 times, posing unacceptable long-term risks to drinking water sources, fisheries and watersheds.
Statement from Amy Adams, North Carolina Program Manager for Appalachian Voices:
“The governor acted in the best interest of North Carolina’s coastal families and businesses when he opposed offshore drilling, but his action today abandons the people who live and work in one of the most disenfranchised regions of our state and whose private property would be sacrificed for this unnecessary pipeline.
“Gov. Cooper cannot dress up this pipeline approval by throwing a few million dollars for environmental mitigation, which in itself acknowledges there will indeed be severe impacts to communities and our natural resources. And while his support for renewable energy and cutting climate pollution is commendable, his action today allowing this pipeline utterly undermines those very goals.
“After the fiasco of the previous administration’s handling of Duke Energy’s coal ash crisis, citizens had hope that Gov. Cooper would unyoke our state from the company’s profit-driven agenda. We were apparently wrong. It’s a shameful day for North Carolina.”
CONTACT:
Amy Adams, N.C. Program Manager, amy@appvoices.org, 828-262-1500
Cat McCue, Communications Director, cat@appvoices.org, 434-293-6373
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