In March 2021 Mountain Valley Pipeline submitted an application for construction in wetlands and across stream crossings in the remaining portions of the project. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has prepared a draft Virginia Water Protection (VWP) permit and a technical factsheet. If issued, the permit will serve as Virginia’s Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification.

Permit Decision will be made on the State Water Control Board meeting on December 14th in Richmond, VA – exact location TBD. No public comment will be accepted at this hearing.

Hearings:

DEQ held two public in-person only hearings on the draft permit and will accept written comments from Aug. 28 through Oct. 27. Read POWHR’s blog about the hearings and the plea to the board to do the right thing.

• Recording of September 27th hearing in Rocky Mount: here
• Recording of September 28th hearing in Radford: here

Public Comments:

Please see this talking points document for instructions on how to make a comment. The deadline is 11:59 PM ET on October 27th, 2021.

For full details, please see the full public notice.

DEQ staff will make a recommendation on the permit to the State Water Control Board (SWCB) at an open meeting, on December 14th, 2021, before the Dec. 31 deadline. All information, including permit application materials and correspondence are updated weekly and can be found on the DEQ website under the Virginia Water Protection Permit section. The SWCB will not take comment on the draft permit at the December 14th meeting.

Want to make a comment on the MVP draft permit? Talking points and detailed instructions are linked above. If you write your own comment and send it in, please BCC this email address: commentsummarymvp@gmail.com. The deadline for comments is October 27, 2021. For starters, please sign on and customize this incredible ACTION ALERT from our friends at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and this ACTION ALERT from our friends at Appalachian Voices!

Events:

• RALLY FOR OUR WATER: STOP MVP – Wednesday October 20th, at 7:00 PM ET online, there will be a special Rally for Our Water event, hosted by Wild Virginia and featuring special guest speaker Karenna Gore as well as several other featured speakers. Register here and stay tuned for more features of this event – you won’t want to miss it – and bring a friend. This is EVERYONE’s fight, and we will leave the event equipped with tools to use our voice in this permit decision and momentum to stop the MVP!

• REGISTER FOR THE MVP 401 PEOPLES’ HEARING – Monday October 25th at 6:00 PM ET – Allied organizations will be hosting our own virtual hearing where you can comment and have your concerns heard on this draft permit. The entire hearing will be submitted to DEQ before the close of the comment period. REGISTER HERE!

• JOIN THE VIOLATION VIGIL PROJECT TO STOP MVP – Saturday December 11th at 1:00 PM ET – “Violation Vigil” is a collaborative artivism campaign to give poignant, visual and aural representation to the hundreds of water violations at the hands of Mountain Valley Pipeline. You and 300 others are needed now to give voice to a single MVP water violation, to receive your Violation Poster, to begin to use this poster and this message to resist the proposed 401 Water Quality Certification & Water Protection Permit, and to come together in Richmond on December 11, 2021 starting at 1 pm for the Violation Vigil final event.

Register to find your place in this project here, event Facebook link here. The Violation Vigil Project is a collaboration of Appalachian Voices, ARTivism Virginia, CCAN, Earthfolk Collective, Food & Water Watch, POWHR Coalition, RVA Interfaith Climate Justice League, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, Wild Virginia, & Virginia Organizing. 

COVID Concerns:

Read this letter, led by POWHR, signed by 39 organizations and 151 individuals urging Governor Northam and DEQ to offer a third virtual hearing on the MVP 401 Permit Proposal so the public can use their voices safely!

News Coverage:

• WVTF – Opponents Fear MVP Hearings Could Spread COVID-19
• VPM – COVID-19 patients are filling Southwest Virginia hospitals, but key pipeline permit meetings are only in person
• Virginia Mercury – Mountain Valley Pipeline water permit arguments tread familiar ground
• Roanoke Times – At DEQ public hearings, opponents decry pipeline and supporters say it’s vital to economic growth
• Blue Virginia – Protect Our Water; Tell the State Water Control Board to Deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Clean Water Act Section 401 Application
• Virginia Mercury – The common wealth of water, Guest Column by Karenna Gore
• Roanoke Times – Online public hearing scheduled for Mountain Valley Pipeline’s waterbody crossings *(this refers to the Peoples’ Hearing on October 25th!)

Detailed Hearing Info and DEQ’s Explanation of Next Steps:

For the latest information on the in-person public hearings and next steps, see this PDF posted by DEQ: