Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy filed comments in the FERC Docket for Mountain Valley Pipeline on February 5.
The comments from the Sierra Club are in response to the Army Corps of Engineers granting Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit under the Nationwide 12 permit. The organization argues that the Corps must initiate an individual permit process rather than including MVP under the blanket Nationwide 12 permit, citing the following key points:
- The Mountain Valley Pipeline cannot be authorized under NWP 12 because it would have more than “minimal” environmental impacts
- Expert analysis shows that major pipelines such as the MVP cannot be verified using NWP 12
- The Mountain Valley Pipeline water body crossings are not “separate and distant”
- The Mountain Valley Pipeline is ineligible for authorization under the terms of NWP 12, as a substantial segment of the project fails to meet applicable water quality certification requirements
- The MVP is not “similar in nature” to other activities authorized under NWP 12
The comments filed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) are in response to Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC’s “Supplemental Materials” filed February 2, 2018 (eLibrary no. 20180202-5191). TNC states that the supplemental materials filed pursuant to the Environmental Condition No. 32 are insufficient.
TNC notes that Attachment A in the Supplemental Materials filing included a route map and an email stating that the map is the same one filed in the FERC docket on April 21, 2016, but for the fact that some mileposts changed slightly. Specifically, TNC stated that the attachment is missing or contains inaccurate information pursuant to multiple stream crossings, and does not include any avoidance or minimization measures.
Additionally, “MVP still has not responded to TNC’s request for consultation as to the substantive content of a crossing plan for the Woltz Conservation Easement.”