Former Va. State Employee Calls on A.G. to Enforce MVP Agreement with State

Richmond, VA – The Mountain Valley Pipeline has violated a consent decree with the State of Virginia, issued October 11, 2019. Blatant examples of decree violations such as “visible and measurable sediment deposition off of the right of way onto adjacent property” and “sediment off of the right of way into surface waters” have been reported – and ignored. 

The Virginia State Attorney General has the authority and the duty to enforce this decree and make MVP pay fines for the violations. It is the job of the A.G.’s colleagues at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to take prompt action regarding the dozens of violations wrought by MVP and reported to the agency by community members. The A.G. must ask the DEQ to issue MVP a stop work based on the numerous reported violations of environmental laws.

Former state government employee Deborah Kushner made headlines in 2021 for blocking MVP construction and again in 2022 for blocking Fourth of July traffic on the Capital Beltway. Before retiring, Deborah worked as a mental health provider for the state government, a cause the current Attorney General cares about. Deborah Kushner is now calling on Attorney General Jason Miyares to take action to enforce the 2019 consent decree.

“Once a state government employee, I now defend the mountains, streams, and people from the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s destruction. As a long-term Virginian and former government worker, I call on the Attorney General of Virginia to enforce the consent decree,” says Deborah Kushner. “It’s the Attorney General’s job to hold corporations like MVP accountable to our environmental laws and the office is currently failing at that. The MVP is operating in violation of our environmental laws and they must be held accountable by the Attorney General. The state cannot continue to allow corporations to desecrate our planet at the expense of our lives and future.”

Deborah Kushner has attributed her fervent environmental activism to the escalating climate crisis, worsened by government inaction and fossil fuel greed. The Biden administration has committed to reducing methane emissions following COP28. If put into service, the MVP, backed by Congressional leadership, would be a methane-emitting climate nightmare.

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