SUFFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — Wednesday the Suffolk City Council voted on a license agreement allowing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to build across city roads and property. The vote was 5 to 0 in agreement.
Suffolk residents like Catherine Skinner know that one of Suffolk’s most precious resources is the land, especially when it is passed down through the different generations of a family.
Skinner is 43, and her land has been passed down from her great-grandmother to her grandmother and now to her mother. Skinner said a plan to build part of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline on the property is still concerning for her mom.
“She’s been receiving a lot of information about it, and she knows that it has something to do with [Dominion Energy], but I think she’s a little confused like me,” Skinner said.
The natural gas pipeline is being built by Dominion Energy and others through a firm called Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC. It runs through parts of West Virginia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The companies said they will create thousands of jobs and save millions in energy costs.
However, some Suffolk residents said they’d prefer to keep Suffolk the way it is: pipeline-free.
“I think that most people are 100 percent opposed to any kind of pipeline coming through their area,” Suffolk resident Willie Whitehead said.
Whitehead said he’s worried about inevitable environmental impacts. Skinner wants some resolution to be reached.
“I would like for them to come and resolve it so they can go ahead and get everything done,” Skinner said. “It’s being going on for a while.”
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