Community Organizing Forces Stoppage of Air Permit for MVP Boost Compressor Station in Elliston, Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

July 2, 2026

CONTACT

Eric Stamps, Media and Communications, (804) 372-8036, eric@powhr.org

Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (276) 289-1018, dan@appvoices.org 

Community Organizing Forces Stoppage of Air Permit for MVP Boost Compressor Station in Elliston, Virginia

Virginia DEQ has stopped processing the air permit for the proposed Swann Compressor Station.

ELLISTON, VA. — Years of grassroots organizing, community research and persistent advocacy by residents of the Elliston-Lafayette community and regional partners have forced a full stoppage of the air permit application for the proposed Swann Compressor Station, part of Mountain Valley Pipeline's MVP Boost expansion project. In a June 12 letter just made public, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Director Michael S. Rolband informed MVP that the agency has stopped processing the permit application and that any resubmission will restart the permitting timeline from the beginning of the process.

The letter was made public by DEQ after Crystal Mello, Community Organizer for the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition, asked the agency for clarification about the permit’s status.

“For many years, the voices of community members in the Elliston/Lafayette area have gone unheard,” said Crystal Mello, Community Organizer with the POWHR Coalition. “The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality should continue to listen and fully consider our fears about this toxic project near our homes in Eastmont. The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors made the right decision in opposing the Swann station in its resolution to FERC. The county can now get to know who actually lives in the area and change course on the site suitability decision. We at POWHR will continue organizing, building relationships and carrying our voices to the board of supervisors, Richmond, Washington, D.C., and to decision-makers who must acknowledge the burdens that the Eastmont community is already carrying.”

“Virginia DEQ’s decision to suspend the permit application for MVP Boost will protect the community from the dangers of this unnecessary compressor station,” said Matt Allenbaugh, Virginia Campaign Coordinator at Appalachian Voices. “The message from the community couldn’t be clearer — Reject this project. FERC should now follow suit and suspend the certificate application for MVP Boost. ”

“MVP should take this stoppage in the permitting process as an opportunity to cut its losses and go home,” said Joshua Vana, Director of ARTivism Virginia. “No amount of corporate jargon, ‘A.I. Revolution’ hype, or glad handing with the ‘business community’ can change the fact that a 136,900-horsepower fracked gas compressor station would be harmful to residents of Eastern Montgomery County. The proposed Swann Compressor Station has no safe place in Elliston or anywhere.” 

“The safety concerns in Elliston and Lafayette are at an all-time high,” said Penny Artis, an impacted community member in Lafayette, Virginia. “The crossings being blocked by Norfolk Southern are trapping residents between a train and a live 42-inch methane pipe. From December to July, Cannery Road has been blocked 12 times, with blockages lasting from 30 minutes to 6.5 hours. Imagine that crossing being blocked by a train during a pipeline or compressor station emergency, with residents’ only way out completely blocked. We don’t want to be triaged insignificant with these issues.”

We continue to urge the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors to hold the line and ultimately deny site suitability for the MVP Boost project. We also encourage anyone with concerns about this project to submit comments to FERC when the public comment period opens. 

We have seen what community organizing can accomplish, and we are not done yet. 

###

Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) is an interstate coalition representing individuals and groups from Virginia and West Virginia dedicated to protecting water, land, and communities from harms caused by the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).