This story was reported by WHRO News.
A project to overhaul and double the size of a natural gas pipeline in Hampton Roads is officially underway.
TC Energy began construction last week on the Virginia Reliability Project, according to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The Canadian company plans to replace and widen about 49 miles of existing pipeline that stretches from Surry and Sussex counties through Suffolk and Chesapeake.
TC owns the Columbia Gas Transmission system that runs from New York to the Midwest and Southeast. Virginia’s the southernmost of the 10 states it touches.
The company said much of the Virginia pipeline’s infrastructure was built in the 1950s and needs to be updated to accommodate growing energy demand.
Local politicians and business leaders voiced support for the project, including Chesapeake Mayor Rick West, Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer, Virginia Sen. Louise Lucas and U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans.
“Commonsense energy upgrades that continue reliable and abundant natural gas supply are critical in giving businesses the certainty they need to invest in our communities,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement provided through TC Energy.
But local environmental groups and civic leagues have fought the project as it sought permitting along the way, calling it the “Virginia Ripoff Project.” They oppose continued investment in fossil fuel infrastructure that contributes to climate change and cite environmental justice concerns.
Charles Brown II, then-Hampton Roads organizer with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, previously told WHRO News the construction would be close to farmland and several marginalized communities.
“I hate that so many low-income areas, Black and brown communities, have to be impacted by these kinds of things,” Brown said. “And I hate that the environment is a throwaway in the conversation. There’s little-to-no consideration for protecting and safeguarding these fragile ecosystems.”
In its recent statement, TC Energy said the company is communicating directly with communities and landowners “and will share more information about specific activities with them as schedules and plans are finalized.”
The Nansemond Indian Nation also fought the company about having more say over impacts to their ancestral lands, such as the Great Dismal Swamp, before reaching an agreement with TC Energy that included withdrawing its formal objections.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project late last year, with one commissioner partially dissenting based on the environmental review’s omission of information on greenhouse gas emissions.
TC Energy expects to have the revamped pipeline up and running by November 2025.
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