ncapppl@gmail.

com
(919) 346-4593
www.apppl.org
February 4, 2019

Dear Employees of the NC Department of Environmental Quality:

Your NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is our lead stewardship agency for the protection
of our State’s environmental resources. We extend this personal appeal to your conscience and courage,
as employees of our NC DEQ, to come forward, either privately or publicly, to inform the public of all
information relevant to the internal decision-making and permitting of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
(ACP). While we realize that DEQ employees at the central office in Raleigh were most involved in the
ACP permitting process, we are sending this message to all employees because the integrity of the entire
department is at stake in this circumstance.

At this time, there are many, publicly unsubstantiated allegations that the permitting of the Atlantic Coast
Pipeline (ACP) was unduly influenced by political and corporate interests. These include, but are not
limited to, Governor Cooper’s and DEQ’s private negotiations and communications regarding the $58
Million Fund, the approval of the 401 Water Quality Permit, and the hiring of a former Dominion Energy
Lobbyist for the pipeline – all in one week. Both major political parties have used the pipeline for what
they consider their own political benefit. Only DEQ employees working in the Raleigh office can set the
record straight.

There is a long tradition of “whistleblowing” and truth-telling within all levels of government,
including within environmental regulatory agencies. For example, William Sanjour was a whistle-
blower within the US EPA for 30 years. He worked with many environmental organizations in North
Carolina over his tenure. In a 2007 interview with Fraud Magazine, Mr. Sanjour commented that
employees become whistle-blowers when “a moral dilemma, not of their own seeking, was thrust upon
them….Whistle-blowers know the system and speak out in a spirit of public service”
(https://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=513).
Here are three opportunities that DEQ employees have in relaying information regarding the ACP
permitting process: (1) to confidentially talk with Frank Brostrom, Tom Beers or Kevin Greene, three
investigators hired by the NC Legislature that are partners in Eagle Intel Services of Wilmington
(910-821-0026); (2) to confidentially speak with Lisa Sorg at NC Policy Watch at the NC Justice Center in
Raleigh (919-861-1463); or (3) to talk confidentially with both sources to provide more assurance that
your information will reach the public domain, either as an anonymous or public source.

Some of the circumstances creating the growing cloud around permitting of the ACP are as follows.

• In the “Requests for More Information” from the NC DEQ to the ACP, a pattern emerged of questions
that remained unanswered, month after month. While this is disputed by leading DEQ officials, this
pattern is evidenced in DEQ questions and ACP responses. ACP opponents recognized this neglect –
and perceived disrespect – of the ACP toward the DEQ. These findings were submitted to the office of
the NC Attorney General on December 19th along with a request to the AG’s office to support addi-
tional hearings to identify the unanswered questions needing answers in order that DEQ could make
an informed decision on the ACP permit application.
• On January 23, 2018, the Alliance to Protect Our People and Places We Live (APPPL) published and
distributed a report by Nancy LaPlaca, Energy Consultant, on the failure of the ACP to demonstrate

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 economic development benefit. The report’s recommendations included additional public hearings to
address the ACP’s unanswered questions and challenges to their claims. Since DEQ had already
provided two additional public hearings in impacted Native American communities in 2017, there was
no reason to anticipate that these requests for additional hearings in December 2017 and January 2018
would not receive a favorable response. Up to four months remained before the deadline on all permit
decisions.
• Unbeknownst to the public, Governor Cooper’s Administration had begun discussions with Dominion
and Duke Energy Officials on the Mitigation Project and Fund sometime in 2017 – if not before then.
Numerous officials have alleged that the delay in certifying the 401 Water Quality Permit until January
2018 was a cover to provide time for the Cooper Administration to seal the deal. At the same time,
Dominion and Duke Energy Officials claimed that the Permit Process was the most thorough in NC’s
permitting history, justifying and celebrating the January permit certification.
• The more likely scenario is that the 401 Water Quality Permit would have been the most thorough in
NC’s permit history had it been extended for 2-3 months, and DEQ had received answers to its
unanswered questions and those posed in documents submitted in December 2017 and January
2018 by various individuals and groups. Rather it appears that Dominion and Duke had begun
negotiations for the Mitigation Project and Fund and knew that they would receive the permit
certification without having to answer the outstanding questions posed by DEQ and the public.
Countering the official story, there were “many stones left unturned” when the ACP permit was
approved. Dominion and Duke could have hired the best experts to answer DEQ’s questions, but
they didn’t. The question is “Why?”

This is where you, as DEQ employees, come in. Only you know the real answers to these questions and
the cloud of allegations hanging over the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline. If you don’t have the
answers, please privately encourage those that may know to come forward.

This “Appeal to Your Conscience and Courage” is a personal plea. We understand how worn down you
must have felt by trying to get your legitimate questions answered by the ACP. Many of us have spent the
better portion of our lives these past four years seeking to wake our fellow citizens up to this unnecessary,
economically irresponsible, and environmentally harmful pipeline. We haven’t given up and hope that
you won’t also. All it takes is one person caring more about their integrity, impact, and spirit than playing
it “safe”. It only takes a spark, a mustard seed, or two arms raised in front of a tank to fundamentally
change a human condition. The implications of playing it safe are unsafe for us all.

This appeal to you is time-sensitive. The legislative investigation is underway. The US Fourth Circuit
Court recently voided two major pipeline permits. The ACP has presently stopped construction. The DEQ
permit process can legally be re-opened. The mere fact that the Governor was holding private negotiations
with ACP officials during the permitting process is enough, alone, to question its validity and provide
insight into why the ACP left so many questions unanswered.

Please consider our plea to come forward, for the good of the people of our State, the places we live, and
for the integrity of the NC Department of Environmental Quality.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Cathy Buckley, Raleigh, Wake; Tom Clark, Wade, Cumberland; Kendall Hale, Asheville, Buncombe; Steve
Norris, Fairview, Buncombe; Kay Reibold, Raleigh, Wake; Marvin Winstead, Nashville, Nash; and Greg
Yost, Mars Hill, Madison, on behalf of the Alliance to Protect Our People and the Places We Live (APPPL)

www.apppl.org