Army Corps releases public notice on Southgate 404 permit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the US Army Corps of Engineers published the public notices for Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC’s Clean Water Act permit for the stream and wetlands crossings for its proposed methane gas pipeline “Southgate.” The notices are for the Norfolk and Wilmington Districts of the Army Corps. Southgate would travel from the Mountain Valley Pipeline mainline terminus in Chatham, Virginia through Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and Rockingham, North Carolina.
According to the notices, “the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)…has found that this permit request meets the terms of EO 14156 and is therefore subject to special emergency permitting procedures to address an energy supply situation which would result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property, or an immediate, unforeseen, and significant economic hardship if corrective action requiring a permit is not undertaken within a time period less than the normal time needed to process the application under standard procedures.”
The Southgate project would extend the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline along a route similar to the proposed Southeast Supply Enhancement Project from Williams Companies’ expansion of their network of Transco pipelines. These projects are also currently undergoing a review process by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The co-location of two high-pressure, large diameter pipelines is of significant concern for local residents in the impacted counties. The application process for Southgate also includes review by the Virginia and North Carolina Departments of Environmental Quality. Their public comment periods are estimated to be in late Spring and early Summer.
“Navigating permit processes is difficult enough for communities without the added chaos and confusion created by arbitrary and baseless ‘emergency’ declarations,” said Russell Chisholm, Managing Director at POWHR. “Expediting project approvals without full public participation and rigorous review will have disastrous results for our lands, water and people. Any project, including Southgate, claiming to be in the public or national interest deserves public and national scrutiny.”
“For years MVP Southgate—a proposed extension of MVP mainline—has never moved forward and has been denied multiple permits,” said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, Director at 7 Directions of Service. “Community members along the MVP mainline route tell us how their lives, their land and their waterways continue to suffer as a result of these pipeline developers, their violations and the lack of accountability. Our regulators must do everything in their power to protect North Carolinians from a similar fate.”