Another U.S. Pipeline Gets Majority Support In A Poll

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Bill Smith, Editor,ARRA News,: We have reported often concerning the Keystone XL-Pipeline which has been blocked by the Obama administration. Today the American Petroleum Institute alerted me to the following Richmond Times-Dispatch article: Poll finds support for Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

In summary, most voters in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina support constructing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, according to a poll conducted for the Consumer Energy Alliance. Fifty-six percent of polled voters in Virginia, 70% in West Virginia and 55% in North Carolina are in favor of the $5 billion natural gas pipeline, according to the poll. The pipeline, proposed by Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources, still needs federal authorization.

The article (extract):by John Ramsey: A majority of voters in Virginia and the other states where the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline would run support its construction, according to a poll ... by the industry-backed Consumer Energy Alliance.

Of the 500 voters polled earlier this month, support for the $5 billion, 550-mile pipeline Dominion wants to build was at 56 percent in Virginia, 70 percent in West Virginia and 55 percent in North Carolina.

Dominion hailed the poll as another sign that the persistent protests against the project do not represent broader public opinion, while critics of the pipeline said the poll's questions ignored the larger issue of climate change.

"The poll confirms what the Atlantic Coast Pipeline's companies have known since the project began — that there is strong support for the project all up and down its 550-mile length in the three states," said Diane Leopold, president of Dominion Energy, the Dominion subsidiary that has joined with Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources to propose the project. "This pipeline will serve multiple public utilities and their urgent energy needs to generate electricity as well as to heat homes and run local businesses.

Glen Besa, director of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club and an opponent of the pipeline, said the poll at best is indicative of the success of a major advertising campaign by the natural gas industry promoting it as a clean fuel.
"I see the commercials every night when I watch TV. ... This is an industry poll, and it reflects the industry's perspective," Besa said. "And they aren't really posing to people on the phone their competing concerns related to climate change and how gas may impact that."

. . . The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which requires federal approval, would bring natural gas from the shale fields of West Virginia through Virginia and to North Carolina.

Earlier this month, a subsidiary of Dominion sued the owners of 27 properties in Nelson, Augusta and Buckingham counties, where opposition is stiffest. The suit is meant to prove Dominion has legal authority to survey on private property to decide where to put the pipeline even without landowner permission.

The company said more than 80 percent of landowners have agreed to have their property surveyed, but that it expects to take the same legal action against more than 100 property owners along the route.

Dominion expects a final decision on whether it can build the pipeline from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by fall 2016.

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