African American Community Wins Court Battle In VA Pipeline Saga

UNION HILL, VA — A federal appeals court in Richmond threw out a permit needed by developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to build a natural gas compressor station in a historically African American community in central Virginia.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit explained in its ruling that "environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked" and that the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board failed to consider the disproportionate impact on the residents who live closest to the proposed compressor station.

In its unanimous decision, the three-judge panel ordered state regulators to conduct further proceedings on the pipeline company's application to build the compressor station in Union Hill, a community in rural Buckingham County about 60 miles west of Richmond.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a project led by Richmond-based Dominion Energy, would transport natural gas about 600 miles from West Virginia, through Virginia and into North Carolina. In January 2019, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board granted Atlantic Coast Pipeline developers a permit for the compressor station in Union Hill.

"For the first time since Dominion showed up in Union Hill, I feel like we've been heard," Union Hill resident John Laury said Tuesday in response to the court ruling. "My ancestors, Freedmen and Freedwomen from Buckingham, remained here to start a new life in the years after the Civil War."

In late October, lawyers for Union Hill argued that placing the compressor station in Union Hill reflects a longstanding history of siting polluting facilities in minority communities. Air pollution from compressor stations can worsen asthma and decrease lung function in some people.

The appeals court, in its decision, said it is "admirable" that the compressor station "has more stringent requirements than any similar compressor station anywhere in the United States," as described by its developers, and that the residents of Union Hill "will be breathing cleaner air than the vast majority of Virginia residents even after the compressor station goes into operation."

"But these mantras do not carry the day," the court said. "What matters is whether the board has performed its statutory duty to determine whether this facility is suitable for this site, in light of [environmental justice] and potential health risks for the people of Union Hill. It has not."

Dominion said it will work with the state to resolve the issues identified by the court, according to an Associated Press report. "We are confident the additional analysis required by the court can be completed in a timely manner. We expect the project will still deliver significant volumes to customers under our existing timeline, even as we work to resolve this permit," Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby said in a statement to the AP.