Representatives Cohen and Ocasio-Cortez Urge Biden Administration to Reevaluate Byhalia Pipeline Permit over Memphis Drinking Water Aquifer

Press Release

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) led a letter with 26 of their Congressional colleagues asking the Biden Administration to reconsider the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use of Nationwide 12 (NWP12) authority to construct fossil fuel pipelines over sensitive aquifers and historic Black neighborhoods. Specifically, they ask the Administration to reevaluate the Nationwide Permit 12 for the Byhalia Connection Pipeline Project planned in Memphis. The project has generated significant community opposition and has received national attention as an example of egregious environmental injustice.

The letter, signed by Alan Lowenthal, Ann McLane Kuster, Ayanna Pressley, Barbara Lee, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Carolyn B. Maloney, Cori Bush, Earl Blumenauer, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Emanuel Cleaver, II, Grace Meng, Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr., Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D., Jerrold Nadler, Jesús G. "Chuy" García, Jim Cooper, Marie Newman, Mondaire Jones, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Nydia M. Velázquez, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, Raúl Grijalva, Robert C. "Bobby" Scott and Ted W. Lieu, reads in part:

"The nationwide permitting process allows applicants to obtain fast-track permission to cross rivers and streams, avoiding public input as well as project-specific scrutiny of environmental harm. While such a process might be appropriate if a project truly has limited impact, the threat to communities wrought by new large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure makes the Corps' use of NWP12 an inappropriate tool, particularly in a growing climate crisis.

"The proposed Byhalia crude oil pipeline is an unfortunate case in point. The pipeline route cuts through the historic Boxtown community, which got its name after formerly enslaved people used scraps of materials and wood from train boxcars to build homes there in the late 19th century. The southwest Memphis community--including Boxtown--is already burdened by dozens of industrial facilities, and community cancer rates are four times the national average. The pipeline would cross through a municipal wellfield that provides this community's drinking water. Subjecting this Black community to more environmental degradation is wrong.

"The Corps' February decision to verify the Byhalia pipeline's use of NWP 12 perpetuates an unfair approach to siting fossil fuel infrastructure by cutting communities out of the permitting process. The Corps purports to have satisfied all public participation obligations for use of NWP 12 on the Byhalia pipeline in 2016--years before the pipeline was proposed. We must provide forums for communities across the country such as Boxtown. Their concerns must be heard and heeded. We believe the Corps must require an individual permit for large fossil-fuel pipelines, so that specific environmental and community concerns with each project are addressed.

"Your leadership is instrumental to protect the rights of our communities and ensure that they have access to clean drinking water and a livable climate. As your Administration continues its work to center environmental justice in our nation's response to the climate crisis, we believe you should immediately reevaluate the recent permit issued by the Army Corps for the Byhalia Pipeline project and reevaluate the propriety of the use of Nationwide Permit 12 for new oil and gas pipeline infrastructure across the country."

Source