Forest Service Issues Record of Decision for Fracked Gas Mountain Valley Pipeline

RICHMOND, VA -- Today, the United States Forest Service issued a decision to allow the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross the Jefferson National Forest. In addition to its role in exacerbating climate change, the Sierra Club opposes this pipeline on the grounds that the need for it does not exist, and there is no need to send it through undisturbed portions of the Appalachian Trail and Jefferson National Forest. In addition, the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) were incomplete, missing critical information about impacts to wildlife habitat, endangered species, sedimentation, and other issues. The Sierra Club will challenge the decision.

The MVP proposal will cause a slew of environmental harms, including cutting a new right-of-way through the Jefferson National Forest. This unnecessary new right of way is one of the many reasons Sierra Club opposes the pipeline. The applicants have not shown that less damaging routes would be infeasible. The Mineral Leasing Act requires re-use of existing rights of way where practical, yet MVP did not review routes through existing right of ways that could minimize forest fragmentation and impacts on wildlife. The EIS also understated impacts on erosion, sedimentation, and thus water quality, largely by using an unrealistic estimate of how effective erosion control measures would be. Furthermore, the Forest Service's plan amendments violated the 2012 Forest Planning Rule.

In response, Kate Addleson, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Director, released the following statement:

"Dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipelines like the Mountain Valley Pipeline threaten Virginians’ health, prosperity and communities. Our government owes it to us to us to give each and every fracked gas project the thorough review it deserves, and we are challenging this decision in court to force them to ask the questions they should have long ago."