Friends of the Earth applauds cancelation of Atlantic Coast Pipeline
WASHINGTON – Dominion Energy and Duke Energy announced Sunday the cancelation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Friends of the Earth has campaigned for years against this project, that would have caused irreparable damage to the environment and local communities.
Donna Chavis, senior fossil fuel campaigner for Friends of the Earth and an elder of the Lumbee Nation, issued the following statement in response:
Native American, African American, and other affected communities along the route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline have prevailed in their David versus Goliath struggle against Duke Energy and Dominion Energy. The ACP is now officially dead, and not a moment too soon.
Americans have spoken in the streets, and they have no tolerance for fossil fuel projects that poison the bodies, the land, the air, and the water of Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities.
While we celebrate this victory, we must also continue to fight against this toxic industry. Friends of the Earth will be turning its full force to stop a liquified natural gas (LNG) peaking and storage facility in North Carolina that Piedmont Natural Gas (PNG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Duke Energy, is planning to develop in the same vicinity as the proposed ACP. Just like ACP, we will ensure that the PNG/Duke project does not see the light of day.
Fossil fuels have no future in North Carolina or the United States.
Background notes:
- Friends of the Earth and NC WARN in May released an analysis by a former energy executive outlining multiple factors that made the Atlantic Coast Pipeline a risky and unnecessary investment that could leave Dominion and Duke shareholders on the hook for billions of dollars in stranded costs.
- On June 18, 2020, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina issued a resolution against the Duke-PNG facility that stated, “The Agriculture/Natural Resources Committee and the 2020 Lumbee Tribal Council do hereby support the landowners in District 5 of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina in their efforts to preserve their land, their waterways and future generations from the impacts of the placement of the LNG facility.”
Communications contact: Aisha Dukule, (202) 893-3502, [email protected]
Expert contact: Donna Chavis, [email protected]