LUMBERTON — Robeson County residents get their chance Thursday to say yea or nay to the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
The community feedback session is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and will take place at Southeastern North Carolina Agricultural Events Center, located at 1027 U.S. 74 in Lumberton. Registration and sign-in is to start at 5:30 p.m.
The Robeson County session is one of three scheduled by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality in an attempt to collect community comments about Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC’s plan to install one compressor station and 186 miles of 36-inch transmission pipeline across eight North Carolina counties, including Robeson County. One session was held Tuesday at Nash Community College and the other Wednesday at Northampton County Cultural and Wellness Center, in Jackson.
Other affected counties in North Carolina include: Northampton, Halifax, Nash, Wilson, Johnston, Sampson, Cumberland and Robeson counties.
Robeson County residents opposing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline have called on county commissioners to hold public meetings to educate the public about the proposed interstate natural gas pipeline that would begin in West Virginia and end in Pembroke. On Aug. 8 the commissioners ignored the call for public meetings about the pipeline and unanimously approved a conditional-use permit that allows for the placement of a monitoring station and a 350-foot-tall microwave cell tower on property owned by Piedmont Natural Gas Inc. The monitoring station and cell tower are considered critical if the pipeline is to move forward.
The pipeline project still has not received federal approval.
The state DEQ held two public hearings in July to receive comments on Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC’s application for a 401 water quality certification and buffer authorization as required by the federal Clean Water Act and state riparian buffer rules. One of those hearings was in Fayetteville.
The project application and supporting documents can be found online at: http://edocs.deq.nc.gov/WaterResources/0/fol/261798/Row1.aspx. The application and supporting documents also may be reviewed at the Division of Water Resources’ Central Office located in the Archdale Building, 512 N, Salisbury St. in Raleigh.
To schedule an appointment to review the file, contact Jennifer Burdette at jennifer.burdette@ncdenr.gov or call 919-807-6364.
The public may submit written comments on the 401 application to 401 Permitting, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617. Written comments also may be submitted by email to PublicComments@ncdenr.gov.
Be sure to include “ACP” in the email’s subject line. The public comment period ends at 5 p.m. Saturday.