skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

U.S. gender wage gap grows for the first time in a decade; Trump has embraced NC's Mark Robinson, calling him 'Martin Luther King on steroids; Volunteers sought as early voting kicks off in MN; Women's political contributions in congressional races fall short of men's.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rising threats of political violence, a Federal Reserve rate cut, crypto industry campaign contributions and reproductive rights are shaping today's political landscape.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

FERC Moving Pipeline Projects Forward Over Objections

play audio
Play

Monday, August 15, 2016   

RICHMOND, Va. – Federal regulators are moving forward with huge pipeline projects across Virginia and West Virginia, although opponents say the projects are risking overbuilding and locking in a fuel that causes climate change.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC confirmed it won’t require a collective environmental impact statement on all the lines designed to ship Marcellus and Utica gas to East Coast markets.

Two of them – the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) – could end up costing ratepayers $9 billion.

And Rick Webb, coordinator of the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, says FERC is looking at the need for and total impact of each line separately.

"As if the others don't even exist,” he points out. “And analysis that has been done, including by FERC's own staff, indicates that we will very shortly have an excess in pipeline capacity – yet FERC doesn't want to address that."

FERC is moving ahead with timelines for the ACP, MVP and others that could see construction starting in about a year.

The energy companies behind the pipelines say they have contracts in hand to ship the gas, proving the need.

Webb says many of the contracts cited by the energy conglomerates are between subsidiaries of the same parent corporation.

One recent analysis found two-thirds of the contracts for the A-C-P are between branches of Dominion. Webb says FERC isn't challenging that.

"FERC is accepting at face value the argument that there is this need, this compelling need, to get gas to Newport News and Hampton Roads,” he states. “There's nobody in a position of making a decision willing to actually analyze that objectively."

Critics also contend it's foolish to build billions of dollars worth of fossil-fuel infrastructure at a time when the world is rapidly moving away from energy that causes climate change.

They argue the hundreds of miles of 42-inch gas pipelines could have the impact of locking consumers into using a fuel that creates carbon pollution.






get more stories like this via email

more stories
Recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant can now access funding to drive financing for thousands of climate-focused and clean energy initiatives. (bilanol/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Michigan's most vulnerable communities are receiving federal funding to fight the devastating effects of climate change. It's part of the $27 billion …


Health and Wellness

play sound

September is Health Literacy Month, and a Denver-based group is working to help health professionals break a persistent pattern of discrimination …

Environment

play sound

A new report contends fossil fuel funding has biased Columbia University's climate research. The report, by two Columbia students, shows the …


Alabama releases roughly 220,279 men and 78,247 women from its prisons and jails each year. (Chad Robertson/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An Alabama woman is on a mission to help people who've been incarcerated for decades successfully transition back into society. The mission to …

Health and Wellness

play sound

In North Carolina, the gap between Medicaid reimbursement rates and the actual cost of dental care has reached a crisis point, impacting both …

So far in 2024, community health centers in North Dakota have screened 11,580 patients for food insecurity. Through those screenings, more than three thousand box meals have been distributed. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

September is Hunger Action Month. In North Dakota, it isn't just food banks trying to help underserved populations get nutritious items. Health …

Environment

play sound

Marine biologists conducting deep dives near five California islands are collecting data they hope will strengthen the case for ending gillnet fishing…

Environment

play sound

Researchers at Iowa State University are taking aim at the huge amount of energy used by data centers, now and in the future. They have developed a …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021