A public hearing is set for 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 26, regarding a potential 53,515 horsepower (hp) compressor station in Buckingham County — part of a 600-mile natural gas pipeline proposed by Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) LLC.

Ten people spoke out against the station and pipeline project before the Buckingham County Planning Commission voted 7-1 during its meeting Monday to set the public hearing.

If approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the 42-inch pipeline would span Buckingham County. The station is planned for property along Route 56 between Shelton Store and Union Hill roads.

ACP used Monday’s meeting to introduce a special use permit to the commission; it would also need the Buckingham County Board of Supervisor’s approval. The commission could make a recommendation to supervisors after September’s hearing.

Before the vote, commissioners heard from representatives of Dominion Virginia Power — the lead partner in the venture — and asked project leaders numerous questions regarding buffers, sound, lighting, processing complaints and concerns, the life of the pipeline, the benefit to the county and its residents and pollutants.

Following the meeting, District Five Commissioner Sammy Smith, who cast the lone vote against the public hearing motion, said he accidentally voted against the motion.

September’s hearing will be based on 32 proposed conditions for the permit, including stipulations the station’s turbines be no stronger than 55,000 hp; there be no other industrial uses; construction noise between 9 p.m.-7 a.m. not exceed 60 decibels; and operating noise not exceed 55 decibels at property lines and any adjacent existing building not on the property, excluding the part of the property which fronts Route 56, where Dominion is proposing not to exceed 60 decibels.

Other conditions address fencing, signage, lighting, setbacks, buffer vegetation, building colors, emergency response, using silencers during blowdowns, discontinued use of the facility and compliance measures.

Chad Oba, chair of Friends of Buckingham, a group opposed to the project, said she was “deeply concerned” about the station. “It’s a huge problem … It will pollute, to a very high degree, causing health problems that you’ve just heard about — 24/7 noise, light and haze for miles around,” she said.

Oba said it would be one of the largest compressor stations to ever be constructed.

“This is considerable scientific-backed evidence on the health impacts of compressor stations: 65 to 75 percent (of) damages come from emissions. They are mostly health problems from all gas activities. And the most come from compressor stations. Property sales are already being affected,” she said.

Oba said neighbors near the station were making “huge sacrifices” and the project was degrading the environment and “ruining lives of the people who live here. The rural nature of their lives will be forever changed … There’s much at stake for us.”

Union Hill and Union Grove Pastor Paul Wilson, whose churches lie in the station’s vicinity, said Dominion was about to sell the county something it didn’t need.

“I’m trying to give you the human part of what’s going on,” Wilson said. “This is going to destroy our community … I’m really upset. I spend a lot of time in Buckingham dealing with this. I have looked at the other side as well.”

Irene Ellis Leech, an owner of Mt. Rush Farm, said the pipeline would bisect the working cattle farm her family owns at Mt. Rush. She said the county was being used as a “sacrifice zone.”

Lou Zeller, executive director of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, said there were “specific and fatal flaws” in the application, “which should prevent it from attaining a special use permit in Buckingham County.” Zeller said the noise from compressor stations from other facilities has created issues across the nation, offering examples from other locations.

According to Scott Summers, a Dominion employee who will serve as the station’s project manager, said the need for the pipeline and station — while making safety a priority — is to:

• improve the natural gas supply for electric utilities in Virginia and North Carolina looking to meet new federal clean air regulations;

• assist gas utilities searching for new ways to get their product to consumers; and

• assist industries interested in building or expanding.

Safety of the station and project, Summers said, will be ensured through rigorous federal and state testing, X-raying pipeline welds, continuous system monitoring, government-mandated operator qualification standards, community awareness programs and 24/7 monitoring from a Dominion gas control center.