Seems like forever we’ve been waiting for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue the final permits needed for the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project to begin construction. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its final seal of approval for the project in February (see Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC). But like NY, PA is holding up the project. The DEP has not, so far, granted necessary permits to allow construction to begin–those permits being Chapter 102 (earth disturbance) and Chapter 105 (waterway and wetland encroachment). Williams embarked on a public relations campaign to enlist support across the state to pressure PA Gov. Tom Wolf and the DEP to grant the permits so construction can (finally) begin. The Wolf DEP is holding up this project and the 8,000 jobs it will create during construction. Williams delivered a petition to Gov. Wolf with the signatures of 3,000 people supporting the project earlier this month (see PA Roars Its Approval of Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline with Petition, Comments). Perhaps that did the trick. Last Thursday the DEP announced four public hearings in June (otherwise known as circus freak shows, where antis parade in front of microphones and behave like asses). The DEP will also accept public comments until June 26. After that, we will hopefully get a swift round of issued permits and the backhoes will start digging…
