State Timeout On Gas Pipeline Sought By Prince William Residents

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Time is running out for residents of Prince William County who hope to block a major natural gas pipeline project planned for the western part of the county. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, known as Transco, asked federal regulators last Friday for permission to begin construction on the project, known as the Southeastern Trail Expansion, in both Prince William and Fauquier counties.

Transco, a major natural gas pipeline that extends from the Gulf Coast through Virginia into New York, plans to add almost 8 miles of new 42-inch-diameter pipeline known as the Manassas Loop in the two counties. The project also would increase the power at a natural gas compressor station in Manassas by 20 percent. The pipeline company, a subsidiary of Williams Cos., wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to respond to its request to proceed with construction activities by Friday.

Many residents in Prince William and Fauquier counties contend they were left out of the process on whether the upgrades to the Transco system should be allowed to take place. Along with urging the state to keep them in the loop, residents also believe the state of Virginia should be doing more to review the project, including the proposed pipeline's potential impacts on water quality and farmland in the areas where the construction will take place.

"There has been no substantial hearing or comment period for the pipeline and compressor station upgrade," said Jolene Mafnas, Virginia organizer for Food & Water Action, who is leading efforts among environmental groups in Virginia to educate the public about the Transco pipeline expansion project.

Western Prince William County, along with parts of western Fairfax County and areas of Loudoun County near Leesburg, are major thoroughfares for natural gas pipelines in the mid-Atlantic region. Huge amounts of natural gas travel through an extensive network of underground pipelines in the area.

Environmental groups are pushing for the use of renewable forms of energy to quench new demand for energy in Virginia. Local officials, like the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors, have expressed concerns about the safety of new pipeline infrastructure, especially at a time when new pipelines are being built at a rapid pace to meet the needs of companies that are producing larger amounts of natural gas in the nearby Marcellus Shale and other shale gas regions of the United States.

In a November resolution opposing the Transco project, the Fauquier board noted that natural gas pipelines built since 2010 are nearly five times more likely to have structural integrity issues than those that were built from 1980 to 2009.

Over the past half-dozen years, public opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline, two major projects in central and southwestern Virginia that would transport natural gas from West Virginia through Virginia to North Carolina, has intensified to the point where Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring felt enough pressure to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 22 opposing ACP.

"What has happened with MVP and ACP has given a lot of Virginians a morale boost to realize that they can fight this pipeline," Mafnas told Patch, referring to the growing public attention on the Transco project.

In a Jan. 22 presentation about the Transco project to local residents at the Pat White Center at Ben Lamond in Manassas, Mafnas encouraged audience members to contact their county and state representatives and tell them to push state regulators to conduct a more robust water quality review of the project.

In comments submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Prince William County residents complained that there has been no state-led review of the Manassas Loop's impacts on the waterways and watersheds that the pipeline would cut through in the county. The Manassas Loop will go through 20 waterbodies and impact approximately 84.8 acres of soil listed as prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance.

Even though the Manassas Loop would be built along an existing Transco pipeline right of way in the area, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission noted in its environmental assessment of the project that about 22 acres of forested area would need to be cleared in Prince William and Fauquier counties during construction. After construction is finished, 5.4 acres would need to remain permanently "in a non-forested state," while the remaining 16.7 acres of forested area would be restored, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said.

Transco is aiming to complete the entire Southeastern Trail Expansion project by November 2020. The project has been designed to provide additional natural gas volumes to utility and local distribution companies in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, according to the company.

A spokeswoman for Williams, the parent company of Transco, said the company expects to have all regulatory approvals it needs to begin construction on the Manassas Loop and compressor station by the end of March.

"Williams is committed to constructing this project in a way that minimizes and mitigates environmental impacts," spokeswoman Erica Jones said in an email to Patch.

In Fauquier County, where the majority of the Manassas Loop will be located, government officials are speaking out against the pipeline project. Last November, the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution opposing the project "because of the potential degradation of surface waters in Fauquier County and the potential safety issues to our region and communities."

In a Nov. 1, 2019, letter to David Paylor, head of the Virginia DEQ, Fauquier Board Chairman Christopher Butler complained about the department's decision not to conduct an extensive water review of the project.

"Although smaller in size to the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines, the mitigation agreements made between the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Williams Company were done privately with little public input," Butler wrote in the letter. "In fact, it seems these agreements were done before much of the public was even aware of the project. In contrast, the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines' Section 401 Clean Water Act-Water Quality certifications have received extensive public hearings and comment periods."

Prince William County's board has not adopted a position on the Transco project, although state Delegates Lee Carter, who represents Manassas, and Elizabeth R. Guzman, who represents parts of Prince William and Fauquier counties, have come out against the project.

Meanwhile, Virginia Natural Gas, a company that serves customers in southeastern Virginia, also wants to install new natural gas infrastructure in Prince William and Fauquier counties. The company is seeking state approval to build 9.5 miles of new pipeline that would connect to the expanding Transco pipeline system. Virginia Natural Gas's proposed infrastructure in Prince William and Fauquier counties, called the Header Improvement Project, is needed to deliver natural gas to a proposed power plant near Williamsburg.

In Manassas, Transco, as part of its Southeastern Trail Expansion project, plans to increase the compression at its Station 185 station on Balls Ford Road to 30,000 horsepower from 25,000 horsepower. The increase in horsepower will allow greater amounts of natural gas to be transported through the Transco pipeline.

A residential neighborhood is located about a quarter-mile south of the Station 185. At the Jan. 22 meeting, a resident who lives nearby complained that Transco has conducted an extremely loud testing of the compressor station in the middle of the night without notifying residents.

Residents believe Virginia state regulators' decision not to review the compressor upgrade was "neglectful," Mafnas told Patch.

On Monday, Food & Water Action submitted a formal petition to the Virginia DEQ demanding a state-led review of the Southeastern Trail Expansion's impacts to all local waterways that will be affected by construction. The project has moved ahead thanks to an inadequate review process performed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the group argued.

Food & Water Action also criticized how regulators did not provide multiple avenues for public input. Although there was a public comment period that ended in December on whether the project is consistent with the Virginia Coastal Zone Management program, it was not well-publicized and did not give an opportunity for public discussion specifically about waterways, which both construction and pipeline operations will deeply affect, the group said.

"It is unjust and undemocratic to force a pipeline on these communities without giving any opportunity for meaningful public input," Mafnas said. "Our petition seeks to remedy that by demanding a public hearing and comment period, allowing community members to speak to the impact this pipeline will have on waterways in their home counties."