Landslides

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) crosses the most areas of high landslide risk of any major gas pipeline in the U.S. The MVP route is 75% landslide prone. Landslides cause a serious risk of fracked gas pipeline explosion.

Landslides have resulted in at least five gas pipeline explosions in Appalachia alone since 2018. In West Virginia, a pipe carrying large volumes of fracked gas exploded on a steep hill because of a landslide. This major explosion occurred just months after the pipeline was put into service, which many community members fear will happen on the steep slopes of the MVP route.

Pipes laying on the ground in the Mountain Valley Pipeline's route running through the steep slopes of southwest Virginia.

Despite this, MVP still has not been required to adopt common sense measures to monitor and prevent landslides (e.g., strain gauges, public landslide monitoring program).

A recent study found that the risks fracked gas pipelines pose due to landslides are not adequately communicated to the public by decision makers. The study found that Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) use generic, recycled text to describe landslides, regardless of the actual level of risk. The study concluded that the descriptions of landslides in gas pipeline EISs often fail to communicate these risks adequately, and deprive decision-makers and the public of their right to know this information and act accordingly.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is intended to facilitate the vetting of projects with agencies and the public. However, the prevalence of recycled text and the fact that not a single EIS has caused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject a proposed gas pipeline suggest that the outcome of the NEPA process is predetermined, regardless of the substance of project risks.

Mountain Valley Pipeline construction across a steep slope in southwest Virginia.

If you live on the route and are concerned about your safety, visit our “resources for landowners” page. If you’re as enraged as we are by this pipeline’s recklessness, take action to #DefundMVP.

A line of white trucks and workers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Sediment slick roads dirtied by Mountain Valley Pipeline construction. Construction vehicles are parked on the side of the road due to the rain.