RICHMOND, VA — The gas firm Williams has announced plans to add over 26 miles to its Transcontinental Gas Pipeline (Transco) system in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. This expansion is part of a massive investment in regional gas infrastructure that climate activists say will put federal and state climate targets out of reach.  

The pipeline proposal is part of Williams’s proposed Southeast Supply Enhancement project, which aims to bring gas to Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama, and is part of the massive Transco system that runs from Texas to New York. It would connect with the Mountain Valley Pipeline at an existing Transco compressor station in Pittsylvania County. The newly announced expansion would cause the provider to output 84,800 additional metric tons of carbon per day. That’s 3 million metric tons per year or 68 billion pounds of climate pollution, equivalent to adding 6.7 million cars to the road. One tree only absorbs up to 48 pounds of CO2 per year — at this rate, you would need to plant 1.4 billion mature trees to offset this expansion.

Climate advocates are calling for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to stop the construction of this expensive and unneeded augmentation to the Transco pipeline. Instead of asking the federal government to approve wasteful gas infrastructure, climate advocates say Virginia should be taking advantage of funding available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act to build clean energy solutions.

 Victoria Higgins, Virginia Director of CCAN, had the following statement.

“This pipeline is a testament to the willingness of corporations to prioritize profits over people in the age of climate change. President Biden and Virginia state lawmakers have been clear that we are moving to a zero-carbon electricity sector. Investment in new fossil fuel infrastructure is an investment in extreme heat, asthma, sea-level rise, and barren farms and forests.”

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Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. Founded in 2002, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.