Protecting NC Communities

If completed, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, or ACP, would carry fracked gas along a 600-mile route from West Virginia through Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina — and would devastate communities, cultures, ecosystems, and climate along the way.

This pipeline would require 38 miles of mountaintop removal and carry enough fracked gas to generate over 67 million metric tons of climate pollution annually — the equivalent of 20 U.S. coal plants. It would damage farm and forest land, cause habitat loss and fragmentation of wildlife, and diminish the recreational value of natural areas.

The ACP also serves as the poster child for environmental racism. It would disproportionately harm poor, African-American, and Indigenous communities. Compared to their statewide numbers, Native Americans are over-represented by a factor of ten along the North Carolina section of the pipeline route. One of the largest fracked gas compressor stations ever to be built is set to be located in Union Hill, an African-American community of great historical and cultural significance to Virginia.

Confronted with extensive legal and regulatory challenges, the ACP is significantly behind schedule and over budget, and faces fundamental challenges to its financial viability. This project is financially and environmentally toxic and must be dropped.