Photo courtesy of Caroline Hansley-Mace
Last week’s decision is actually a win for climate and clean water advocates.
Three years ago, five companies known as MVP LLC (EQM Midstream Partners, LP; NextEra Capital Holdings, Inc.; Con Edison Transmission, Inc.; WGL Midstream; and RGC Midstream, LLC) announced they wanted to build an extension onto the incomplete boondoggle known as the Mountain Valley Pipeline. MVP predicted the proposed “Southgate” extension would be in operation at the end of 2020. Needless to say, it hasn’t happened, and as of last week, could never happen. Over the last three years, we built the people power needed to stop this dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipeline, and pushed the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) to stop it from ever becoming a reality. Last year, when NCDEQ denied MVP a permit that it needed to begin construction, MVP sued NCDEQ.
In a ruling last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said NCDEQ had the authority to deny MVP the permit, but vacated NCDEQ’s denial until they can provide a more thorough explanation of why they denied it. While at first this might seem like a win for MVP, it’s actually bad news with far-reaching implications for our ability to protect the health of our water, people, and climate from pipelines. Appalachian Mountain Advocates attorney Ben Luckett, who represented the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, and the Center for Biological Diversity in the case, summarized it well:
"This decision is a big win for our clients and for North Carolina’s ability to protect its waters from needless harm. The Court upheld NCDEQ's authority under [section 401 of the Clean Water Act] and North Carolina's water quality standards to deny a certification based on the uncertainty that a project will be able to achieve its stated purpose. Although the Court found that DEQ acted within its authority (under both North Carolina's old and new regulations), it remanded to the agency to provide additional explanation for certain aspects of its decision ... The Court provided a clear road map for NCDEQ to confirm its denial on remand, and the agency should have no trouble doing so given the ongoing uncertainty clouding the fate of the MVP Mainline."
NCDEQ confirmed the ruling “vindicates [their] concerns about the MVP Southgate pipeline extension and the uncertainty of the mainline project." NCDEQ spokesperson Anna Gurney added, "[t]he ruling upholds the state’s authority to determine that building the Southgate extension at this time poses unnecessary risk to North Carolina’s streams, lakes, and wetlands.”
Essentially, NCDEQ said it is sticking with its position on the MVP extension after Michael Regan left the department to become U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, who represented the intervenor Haw River Assembly, confirmed that “The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided that the NCDEQ complied with the Clean Water Act and state water quality laws in denying water quality certification to Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC for construction of its Southgate Project natural gas pipeline. While NCDEQ’s next steps are being evaluated, we remain confident NCDEQ will once again deny certification for this unnecessary, destructive pipeline, this time explaining its decision more fully."
We applaud the NCDEQ for their decision to deny a 401 permit to the Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Their decision, along with the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, confirms the tide has turned against dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipelines, and that the era of fracked gas is over. In addition, it's a welcome opportunity for federal and state agencies to reconsider the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s mainline in order to protect their constituents’ rights to clean water and a healthy environment. It’s also a great reminder to the project’s financiers that they’ve made a bad bet, and clean, renewable energy sources are a much safer investment.
Perry Slade, a farmer and landowner in Alamance County, North Carolina who has worked with the Sierra Club for years, was elated at the news. “I’m thankful that the Department of Environmental Quality made this call,” he said. “It’s obvious that this project would have been a major threat to my community’s water supply and the health of our land. In denying the 401 permit, the DEQ showed legitimate doubt about the Mountain Valley Pipeline project as a whole. I’m hopeful that other state governments will take this hint, so we can finally bring this dangerous project to a halt.”
We look forward to the day when MVP is no longer a threat to our water or communities, and the project is canceled once and for all, like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Until then, join us and learn more at sc.org/DivestMVP.