Pipeline expansion is everything we don’t need

This week, the Sussex County Council disregarded public opposition and approved a proposal to expand capacity of the Eastern Shore Natural Gas pipeline near Bridgeville. Expanding this dirty fuel pipeline is everything we don’t need – and then some. It is abundantly clear that Delaware needs to move away from fossil fuel infrastructure and factory farms, not double down on them. And it should be obvious that Sussex County children and educators don’t need an expanded hazardous pipeline next door to an elementary school.

The Sussex County Council was wrong to approve this dangerous scheme. Here’s why:

First: Dirty fuels. While the United Nations calls for an immediate transition off of fossil fuels to stave off the worst of the growing climate crisis, Delaware remains utterly reliant on polluting gas. Plans to use ESNG’s expanded pipeline for factory farm biogas will do nothing to change that. So-called “factory farm biogas” is chemically indistinguishable from fracked gas and has the same climate impacts when we burn it. This project is little more than greenwashing to deepen our reliance on ESNG’s pipeline and the dirty gas supercharging climate chaos. When combusted, the gas from Bioenergy DevCo’s factory farm biogas project, set to flow through this pipeline, will produce as much carbon dioxide as a passenger car driving nearly 100 million miles a year, and rising CO2 levels are among the chief drivers of climate change. As the lowest-lying state in the country, Delawareans have a lot to lose under a changing climate and rising sea levels. Let’s not let this false solution lock us into the worst of what’s to come.

Second: Factory farms. This pipeline expansion would accept gas from the proposed Bioenergy DevCo methane refinery near Seaford, and possibly other factory farm gas projects, thereby propping up our region’s highly polluting factory farm system. 97 percent of our waterways are impaired, the highest percentage in the nation, and we have factory farming to blame. Factory farms in Delaware produce more than 300,000 tons of manure every year, which leaches into our waterways and causes everything from nitrate pollution in drinking water to fish kills in Delaware’s bays. Bioenergy DevCo’s proposed methane refinery near Seaford will only intensify these problems – and this expansion is its lifeline to profit.

Bioenergy DevCo has already signed a 20-year contract with Perdue Farms as part of its plan to truck hundreds of thousands of tons of poultry industry waste from three states into Seaford to produce gas. That means locking in 20 more years of factory farm pollution in our region, which will continue to degrade our air and water. If approved, this pipeline expansion would be a huge gift to Bioenergy DevCo, and its fossil fuel and factory farm partners.

Third: Environmental justice. Historically, projects like this one have been placed in vulnerable communities that lack the resources to fight back. Those living nearest the site are significantly more likely to be people of color than the average Sussex County resident. One-third are low-income, and one-third again are over 65. To place this dirty and dangerous operation in their midst is simply unjust. Delaware should be taking meaningful action to address environmental justice issues, not further burdening our most vulnerable communities.

Last but not least: Safety. The pipeline expansion would receive and compress as many as 18 heavy truckloads of gas each day – 330 feet from a home, 1,100 feet from a playground and 1,300 feet from Phillis Wheatley Elementary School. Pipeline accidents are not as rare as the fossil fuel industry wants you to believe. In the last 20 years, U.S. pipeline failures have killed 260 Americans, hospitalized 1,112, and caused more than $11 billion in property damage. The decision to build one next to a school was absurd – expanding it is unconscionable.

Now that our local leaders have abdicated responsibility to protect the public and our climate from this dangerous proposal, the project will move into federal permitting via the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Sussex County residents are united in our opposition to dirty fuels in Delaware, and will continue fighting proposals to bring dirty factory farm biogas into our community.