Judges cite 'Lorax' and rule against pipeline
theweathernetwork.com
Monday, December 17, 2018, 5:52 PM - A Virginia federal appeals court has quoted Dr. Seuss to the US Forest Service in a ruling against installing a pipeline on the Appalachian trail.
“We trust the United States Forest Service to ‘speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,'" the court ruling says, borrowing a line from the 1971 children's book The Lorax.
The three-judge panel ruled the forest service had "abdicated its responsibility" when it approved Dominion Energy to go ahead with the pipeline.
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The ruling also states the judges were "particularly informed by the Forest Service's serious environmental concerns that were suddenly, and mysteriously, assuaged in time to meet a private pipeline company's deadlines."
The $7 billion pipeline is slated to cut through West Virginia, Virgina and North Carolina, cutting through two national forests and the Appalachian Trail. The court ruled against running the pipe through the trail.
The appeal to stop forest construction was filed by the Southern Environmental Center, in coordination with other environmental groups.
"The George Washington National Forest, Monongahela National Forest and the Appalachian Trail are national treasures," said Patrick Hunter via CNN, who is acting as legal representation for the Center.
"This pipeline is unnecessary and asking fracked gas customers to pay developers to blast this boondoggle through our public lands only adds insult to injury."
Dominion plans to appeal the decision.
