Yogaville officials are calling potential route adjustments to the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) unconscionable.

The potential changes to the 42-inch natural gas pipeline — announced on Aug. 19 — could bring the route much closer to Yogaville property, according to Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle.

According to a Yogaville press release, Dominion announced to the community “that the latest route proposal for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would come within 3,400 feet of its most sacred site, the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS).”

The release stated that Yogaville has also learned that the pipeline’s potential blast zone would include the Yogaville school and a sacred site, the Nataraj Shrine.

“We support protecting the James River Management Area and the wetland mitigation and stream preservation area,” said Swami Dayananda, director of Yogaville Environmental Solutions (YES), “but the variation on the route should not further jeopardize densely populated areas like Yogaville, our health and safety and our sacred shrines.”

Dayananda said that if the proposed pipeline “is allowed to go forward on either of the Wingina routes, Yogaville will likely need to close its operations and lay off its employees during the one-year or more construction period. We know that there will be serious negative impacts on our 275 residents as well as on our ability to serve the 10,000 guests who come annually here for their health, healing and spiritual renewal.”

Dominion confirmed last week that ACP LLC is studying route adjustments in the northwestern portion of Buckingham. “The Wingina Alternate Variation that we adopted moved the pipeline to about [a] half-a-mile away from the Yogaville property line,” said Norvelle. “Both of the minor adjustments that we are [now] studying would move the pipeline closer to the Yogaville property line.”

Dominion is leading the joint venture to construct a 550-mile natural gas pipeline through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina — one that requires federal approval.

“If this route were to be chosen, it would involve a whole new set of landowners, including our neighbors in the Yogaville Village Center district,” said Dayananda. “For this reason, we have requested to Dominion that it provides these landowners with due process, including time for them to study and understand the possible impacts of the latest route on their land. We have also requested that Dominion provide an open house for newly impacted landowners but the company has made no commitment to date.”

Yogaville Executive Director Ernie Moore says that Dominion has an obligation to provide Yogaville and Buckingham residents with more details about the project.

“Since Dominion is planning on using one of these two routes for its official application to FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) next month …, it is their obligation to inform us … about all of the details, the exact path of the pipeline and the location and specification of the compressor station,” Moore said in the release.

According to Dominion, the ACP would serve multiple public utilities and “their growing energy needs in Virginia and North Carolina. The natural gas transported safely by this project would be used to generate electricity as well as to heat homes and run local businesses.”