Doug Jackson, 202.495.3045 or doug.jackson@sierraclub.org
RICHMOND, VA -- Today, the Virginia State Water Control Board failed to establish a process for revoking the Water Quality Certificate for the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The decision comes despite MVP having committed more than 300 violations of commonsense water protections, a pattern of failure that even led Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring to sue the project.
Although construction of gas pipelines is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), individual states have the authority to reject pipeline construction under section 401 of the Clean Water Act if they determine the project would degrade water quality beyond acceptable standards.
In response, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Director Kate Addleson released the following statement:
"Our Water Control Board seems to have forgotten that the C stands for ‘control,’ not ‘complicity.’ There is no right way to build this dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipeline, and the Northam administration must uphold its responsibility to Virginians and recognize that without real consequences, the polluting corporations behind it will keep running roughshod through our commonwealth, threatening Virginians’ health, safety and clean water.”
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