Gov. Roy Cooper's administration reiterated Tuesday that a decision to approve a key permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was in no way connected to a $57.8 million fund the pipeline operators provided.
Sheila Holman, an assistant secretary at the state Department of Environmental Quality, is at least the third administration official questioned by lawmakers over a possible link between the permit and the fund, which were announced about 20 minutes apart on Jan. 26.
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Cooper has come under fire from both the right and the left over the fund. Republican lawmakers have labeled it a "slush fund" because the governor controlled how the money would be spent, and environmental advocates suggested Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, two of the four utilities partnering on the pipeline, had paid the state off to get the permits approved.
The pipeline will carry natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia to southeastern North Carolina. Cooper has said he wanted the fund to help pay for communities in eastern North Carolina to tap into the pipeline to attract industry to the area, as well as to pay for any needed environmental mitigation along the pipeline route.
Lawmakers last month diverted the money in the fund to school districts in the eight counties through which the pipeline passes. Yet, they continue to poke at the administration over whether the fund was a quid pro quo for DEQ's approval of the permit.
Holman repeatedly told members of an oversight committee Tuesday that there was no connection between the two.
"No, we would not be revoking permits because of the MOU or failure to pay the MOU," she said, referring to the memorandum of understanding that set general parameters for the fund. "The permits are not connected to that MOU."
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the overall pipeline project years ago, Holman said, and DEQ was required to grant the needed permits as the plans met state requirements, which they did.
"I think a lot of people still believe DEQ had the ability to determine this pipeline wasn't needed. Well, that was not within our scope of authority," she said. "Or that we could change the route. That was also not within our scope of authority."
FERC also required the pipeline companies to work out mitigation agreements with North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia but left it up to the individual states to determine how the funds would work.
DEQ didn't request the fund, nor was the agency consulted about it, Holman said. Rep. Jimmy Dixon, R-Duplin, responded that he's left with more questions about the fund.
"I'm even more perplexed, Mr. Chairman, at the appearance of this memorandum of understanding that seems so very unnecessary," Dixon said.