Department of Environmental Protection Thursday announced it will open a comment period on July 22 and has scheduled an August 14 hearing in Lancaster to gather feedback on an Air Quality Plan Approval for construction activities related to the proposed Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Project.

This comment period is related only to air emissions from pipeline construction activities in Lancaster County, and no decisions on the applications for Chapter 102 and Chapter 105 water quality permits for the project have been reached.

The Air Quality Plan Approval would allow transfer of 106 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) Emission Reduction Credits (ERCs) to offset construction activities in Lancaster County, which is considered a nonattainment area for nitrogen oxide.

Emissions offsets are required for the project to comply with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s General Conformity Determination. The ERCs would be sourced from a Harford County, MD resource recovery facility.

A public hearing on the Air Quality Plan Approval will be held on August 14 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster, PA 17601. Oral testimony will be limited to three (3) minutes per person.

Individuals wishing to offer testimony are asked to pre-register no later than August 11. Contact John Repetz at 717-705-4904, or send email to: jrepetz@pa.gov to register. Time permitting, those who did not register in advance will be given the opportunity to testify.

DEP is only considering comments regarding the appropriateness of the location of where the ERCs were obtained and the amount of ERCs used to offset emissions from the Atlantic Sunrise project construction activities in Lancaster County.

The comment period will close at 4:30 p.m. on August 21, 2017. Comments may be submitted to DEP by mail at Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 400 Market Street, 12th Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8468, or send by email to: RA-EPAIRCOMMENTS@pa.gov.

A copy of the Air Quality Plan Approval [soon], along with all other DEP documents related to the Atlantic Sunrise project, can be found on DEP’s Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline webpage.

NewsClips:

Supporters Rally In Tunkhannock For Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline

Kummer: Lancaster Nuns Sue FERC Over Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, Citing Religious Freedom

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Opponents To Hold Prayer Vigil For Nuns Going To Court

McKelvey: Catholic Nuns Take Fight Against Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline To Feds

Hearing On Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Eminent Domain Focuses On Timeline, Trees

Kummer: Nuns Protest Gas Pipeline With Last-Ditch Chapel

Landowners Say They Are Deathly Afraid Of Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline

Landowner Accuses Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Of Being On Illogical Path

Op-Ed: Without Eminent Domain, Pipeline Infrastructure Efforts Would Suffer

[Posted: July 20, 2017]

7/24/2017