Buried in debt and with time running out on their Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) appears to be dictating to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the terms of their work activities and schedule. In a letter sent to FERC on September 22, MVP requested “authorization to resume all construction activities permitted by law Project-wide.” Over 43,000 individuals — including several of the landowners MVP forced to relinquish rights to their property through eminent domain — have submitted comments and motions to intervene in opposition to MVP’s August 25 request to extend their certificate for 2 more years. Platitudes from Pennsylvania-based Equitrans Midstream about the “best interest” of the people of rural Virginia and West Virginia ring hollow along the path of the MVP. To capitulate to this work request at this time is to disregard the opposition of residents including the rural elderly, among our Greatest Generation, who have been hounded and harassed in what should have been years of peace and privacy.
Even while missing key federal permits, MVP plans to ship thousands of out-of-state workers to counties with surging COVID-19 numbers and limited care facilities. They demand to resume work where pipeline sediment has choked fragile species, broken wells, contaminated springs and sullied our mountain streams. Their final restoration of our tree-stripped mountains looks more like invasive weeds and failing seed mixes. Their landslides and sinkholes have already shifted the pipe along steep slopes and fragile karst terrain. Rather than own up to a bad plan poorly executed, MVP continues to scapegoat the very communities who warned them that these exact failures would occur.
We refuse to be made a sacrifice zone in order to reassure investors and boost Equitrans Midstream’s sagging stock performance. FERC should deny MVP’s requests for business as usual and grant our motion for a supplemental environmental impact statement with public participation. Anything short of that ignores a documented track record of failure and further capitulates to project managers who are openly hostile to our communities.
Take action today and submit comments to FERC in opposition to MVP’s certificate extension request and their request to resume work.
Read Comments in Opposition to Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Request to Resume Certain Construction Activities from Sierra Club and allied groups.
Read NRDC’s 5 Key Reasons to Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Guidelines for commenting to FERC and additional talking points are here.