Jonathon Berman, jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org
Emily Sutton, emily@hawriver.org
Washington, DC -- Yesterday, the company behind the contentious Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a fracked gas pipeline that is projected to run from West Virginia to Virginia, filed its application to continue the project into North Carolina with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. . The proposed Southgate extension would extend the pipeline into North Carolina. This move appears meant to thwart vocal opposition, as MVP likely anticipates decreased attention by submitting its application on a day when everyone is preoccupied with the election.
Already, MVP has racked up environmental violations and lost key permits along the mainline of the project. Most recently, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated its Army Corps of Engineers’ Nationwide Permit 12 for stream and wetland crossings. For its Southgate extension, MVP has indicated it plans to work with local law enforcement to obtain a court order to survey parcels that landowners have denied access for the project.
On November 5, NC’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) filed a letter with federal regulators questioning the need for this project and challenging MVP’s assertion that there is, or will be, demand for the gas.
“No amount of tricks will cover-up the widespread grassroots opposition to the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Southgate expansion, and we will continue to rise in solidarity with local communities in opposition to this unnecessary, dangerous project until it is stopped for good,” says Joan Walker, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign. “If we are to protect communities and the climate, we cannot allow fracked gas pipelines to move forward.”
“We will continue to work with state agencies and impacted communities to prevent this unnecessary project from impacting our land, air, and water quality,” says Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper with Haw River Assembly. “The Haw River currently faces industrial and sediment pollution from many sources, and adding a fracked gas pipeline would further degrade this threatened watershed, which is a water source for nearly one million people downstream.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
About the Haw River Assembly
The Haw River Assembly works to promote environmental education, conservation and pollution prevention; to speak as a voice for the river in the public arena, and to put into people's’ hands the tools and the knowledge they need to be effective guardians of the river. The Haw River Assembly has been dedicated to the goal of environmental justice and equality for all people in our watershed since 1982.