Transco Pipeline
Background: Transcontinental (Transco) Southeastern Trail Expansion Project will be a 42-inch pipeline installed, to provide additional capacity, in Prince William and Fauquier County in Virginia. Here is the website for the company building the pipeline for reference – note it has information in favor of the pipeline, which we do not support, but includes timeline and scope of the project.
Project Description from DEQ: Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco or applicant) proposes to construct the Southeastern Trail Project (Project) from the existing Pleasant Valley Interconnect facility (Dominion Energy Cove Point Pipeline) in Fairfax County, Virginia to the existing Station 65 pooling point located in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. The Project will provide 296.375 thousand dekatherms per day (Mdt/d) of additional firm transportation capacity, which requires licensing from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In Virginia, the Project will consist of the construction of 7.72 miles of new natural gas pipeline (Manassas Loop) located along the existing Transco Mainline, and additions to increase compressor station horsepower at three existing compressor stations (Station 185, Station 175, and Station 165). The Manassas Loop’s new 42-inch outside diameter (OD) pipeline will be co-located along the Transco Mainline from milepost (MP) 1568.13 to MP 1575.85 between Station 180 and Station 185. Additional aboveground facilities will be constructed at each terminus of the Manassas Loop, generally co-located with existing facilities. Approximately two miles of the Manassas Loop is located within Virginia’s designated Coastal Zone in Prince William County. Therefore, Transco has submitted a Federal Consistency Certification that finds the proposed activities in Prince William County consistent with the enforceable policies of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program.
Issue: The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is considering Transco’s Coastal Zone Management Federal Consistency Certification without any prior state-led, comprehensive review.
An article published on November 20th, 2019 in the Prince William Times indicated that there was a public comment period but no specific DEQ point of contact to assist citizens in providing comments. In fact, the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website which acts as a main resource for what public comment periods are open doesn’t even list this comment period. DEQ’s website updates panel had no notification as well. It was also misleading to have the instructions to submit a comment on the “Environmental Impact Review” public notice page instead of the “Coastal Management Zone” public notice page. What was an even more egregious oversight to this whole process, was that there was no direct link or public access to what Transco submitted for their Coastal Zone Management Federal Consistency Certification to DEQ for approval.
The lack of access to proper instructions and relevant documents prompted DEQ to extend the Coastal Zone Management Federal Consistency Certification comment period, thanks to those that requested an extension. However, the fact that this is even being considered without a comprehensive state-led project-specific review has pushed Great Falls Group to urge you to deny this certification altogether.
Action: Prince William County residents to submit comments, sharing concerns about the project and the notification process, directly to the DEQ contact john.fisher@deq.virginia.gov and to Norbert. Here is the Transco Extension sample comment script which you are encouraged to edit with some of your own words.
Script:
Email to : john.fisher@deq.virginia.gov
sample email below - this can be edited!
Date
To Mr. John Fisher:
I am a resident of ___________ and I am reaching out to express my concerns with the Transcontinental (Transco) Southeastern Trail Expansion Project. There has been no state-led project-specific review of the pipeline’s environmental impacts to Prince William County’s waterways and watersheds. It’s alarming to see the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) even consider Transco’s Coastal Zone Management Federal Consistency Certification without any prior state-led, comprehensive review.