We, the undersigned CCAN members, strongly oppose the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project. This proposal would cause irreparable environmental harm to our communities’ ecosystems.
Climate impacts: We are in the midst of record setting heat waves across this project’s service area. These deadly climate impacts result from burning fossil fuels and continued use and expansion of fossil gas which has been estimated to be responsible for up to 2.66 million metric tons of fugitive methane emissions each year. The SSEP will pour fuel on the fire of the climate crisis.
Air pollution: Pollutants emitted by the project can cause or worsen respiratory issues, including asthma. Particulate matter (PM), especially PM2.5, is particularly concerning as it penetrates deep into the lungs, travels over a mile, and is harmful at any exposure level, associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases
Water pollution: Stream crossings pose a significant risk of harm to water bodies and water supply along the route: namely the Dan and Sandy rivers. Polluted water is likely to degrade downstream ecosystems and result in habitat loss via sedimentation.
Environmental injustice: This project directly targets communities already facing environmental destruction and air pollution from previous fossil fuel projects. Specifically, the gas-fired compressor station planned for Davidson County, NC, will negatively impact nearby communities above the 70th percentile for low-income residents and above the 80th percentile for PM2.5 on the EPA’s EJScreen environmental justice index.
Government commitments: Both Virginia and North Carolina have statewide commitments to clean energy generation by 2045 and 2050 respectively. The SSEP flies in the face of these goals by locking these states into fossil fuel generation for years beyond these goals.
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement: FERC must prepare a single, regionally-focused EIS - a programmatic EIS - that addresses the impacts of the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate extension, Tennessee Gas "Cumberland" Pipeline, Ridgeline Expansion Project (The Mainline), and the Virginia Reliability Project on the southeast United States which the Commission may overlook in a more narrow single-project EIS.
Signed,