The $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline attracted years of intense opposition from landowners and environmental groups in Virginia.

Steve Helber / AP Photo

This story was updated at 12:35 p.m. on July 7.

Democrats and progressive organizations in Northern Virginia are hailing the cancellation of a controversial $8 billion natural gas pipeline, calling it a major win for environmentalists.

Builders of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, hobbled by years of delays and a ballooning price tag, announced the undertaking would be cancelled in a joint statement Sunday. Dominion and Duke Energy attributed the decision to an “unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays” for the pipeline, which would have run 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina, through Virginia.

The project faced significant legal and grassroots pushback from environmental and community groups. But action by a district court in Montana to overturn a nationwide permit for crossing water and wetlands was the final straw, the companies said — even despite a Supreme Court decision last month that would have allowed the project to cross the Appalachian Trail.

“This new information and litigation risk, among other continuing execution risks, make the project too uncertain to justify investing more shareholder capital,” the companies’ statement said.

Environmentalists and Democratic officials heralded the end of the project, calling it a sign of the waning influence of big business in Virginia.

“The fossil fuel era is rapidly drawing to a close in Virginia and nationwide thanks to the ferocious six-year opposition to this destructive pipeline,” Chesapeake Climate Action Network president Mike Tidwell said in an emailed statement. “That opposition was waged by environmentalists, farmers, justice groups and common residents across the region.”

“Dominion’s decision to abandon the pipeline is a direct result of Virginians in every part of the state who made their voices heard,” said Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-31st District), a co-founder of the Virginia Green New Deal Coalition.

State Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-33rd District), who represents parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, said the cancellation of the pipeline was an important step in the fight against climate change.

“I think we have to take steps to mitigate any further harm on the environment,” she said. “The long term cost to that will overwhelm anything else that we’re talking about.”

“I applaud Dominion for listening to the people of Virginia and making the decision to change course and pursue a more environmentally friendly future,” said state Sen. John Bell (D-13th District). “I commend all who fought so hard for this outcome.”

The pipeline was first announced in 2014, and its permit for construction was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017. Delays and legal challenges caused the cost of the project to skyrocket to $8 billion, up from an initial estimate of $4.5 billion to $5 billion.

On Thursday, before news of the project’s cancellation, several Northern Virginia lawmakers signed onto a letter calling on the regulatory commission to deny permissions for the pipeline, citing permits the project had failed to secure.

The project drew particular ire from state and national opponents for plans to build a compressor station — a key part of pipeline infrastructure — in Union Hill, a historic Black freedmen’s community in Buckingham County. Former Vice President Al Gore and civil rights leader Rev. William Barber II, who both visited Union Hill last year, released a joint statement Sunday calling the demise of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline “a victory for environmental justice.”

Some environmental groups in the state see the news as a first step towards deeper changes to Virginia’s energy landscape, particularly “the structural problem of Virginia’s monopoly utilities,” said Clean Virginia, an advocacy organization that supports clean energy and transparent energy policy.

“We must all remain vigilant and continue working towards the creation of a sensical [sic] utility system that prioritizes the public interest and prevents projects like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline from ever seeing the light of day,” the organization said in a statement.

Dominion Energy is headquartered in Richmond and provides electricity to 2.6 million people in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina alone, with millions more customers in other states. The company has historically been one of the largest political campaign donors in Virginia’s statewide elections.

Republican leadership in Richmond warned that the pipeline’s demise could raise energy costs.

“Don’t ever again let a Virginia Democrat tell you they want you to have cheap and reliable sources of energy,” House of Delegates Minority Leader Todd Gilbert tweeted. “Don’t ever again believe them when they puport [sic] to care about those least able to pay for their energy policies. Never again.”

Guzman disagreed with that assessment.

“Ratepayers in every part of the state, including Northern Virginia, were picking up the tab for the pipeline — so this project absolutely would have a direct impact on their pocketbooks as well as on the climate generally,” she said in an emailed statement.

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce expressed frustration about the cancellation of the project, which was estimated to support 8,800 jobs in the state, according to the Washington Post.

“Today’s announcement detrimentally impacts the commonwealth’s access to affordable, reliable energy,” Barry DuVal, the chamber’s CEO, said in a statement.

A January 2019 analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis raised questions about whether the pipeline, if completed, would be able to recoup the cost of construction.

“The demand outlook for gas has changed dramatically since the project’s inception and much of the project’s original justification has evaporated,” the analysis said. “The project does not represent good value to the ratepayer.”

In March, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires Dominion Energy’s electricity generation to be carbon-free by 2045. That law took effect at the beginning of July.

Also on Sunday, Dominion Energy announced a $10 billion deal to sell “substantially all” of its gas storage and transmission infrastructure — including 7,700 miles of natural gas pipelines and about 900 billion cubic feet of gas storage — to Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Natural gas is quickly becoming a new front in the battle over how to make the nation’s energy sources greener. Dominion and other energy companies say the fuel is cleaner than coal and could be a bridge to renewables; environmental activists say energy companies should focus exclusively on developing non-carbon energy because of the pace of climate change.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration weighed in on the Dominion deal.

“Governor Northam spoke with Dominion Energy leaders yesterday and told them he supports this decision and the company’s transition to clean energy,” Alena Yarmosky, a spokesperson for Northam, said in an email. “Renewable, clean energy will power America’s future, and the Governor will continue to work with the company and environmental advocates to make Virginia a national leader.”

This story was updated to include comments from Del. Elizabeth Guzman, Sen. Jennifer Boysko and Sen. John Bell.

Filed Under: atlantic coast pipeline, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, clean energy, climate change, democrats, Dominion Virginia Power, environmentalism, infrastructure, natural gas, pipeline, supreme court,