On the Brink of a Climate Emergency, Groups Demand FERC Deny MVP’s Extension Request

Washington DC – Groups submitted more than 31,000 comments asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s request for four more years to build the pipeline, which would be catastrophic for the climate if completed. According to one analysis, MVP would produce 89,526,651 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of 23 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles. 270 organizations from the national to the local level also asked FERC for a denial. Additionally, 27 VA state representatives and 33 NC state representatives asked for a denial, as well as multiple local municipalities.

This month, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres issued a dire warning about the “climate emergency,” saying, “We have a choice: Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands.”

More than 100 million Americans are experiencing a heat wave affecting vast swaths of the country. In order to achieve our climate targets and protect communities from extreme heat and dangerous climate impacts, the IEA confirms that stopping new fossil fuel infrastructure and rapidly reducing methane emissions is a key tool to limit global warming. The climate crisis is undeniably escalating, and the people of the U.S. need the federal government to take bold action. This includes taking substantial steps to move away from locking us into decades of new fossil fuel infrastructure and further toward a rapid transition to affordable, equitable, clean energy.

“We, the people directly impacted by the climate nightmare known as the MVP, and hundreds of national organizations demand FERC deny MVP’s four-year extension request. There is overwhelming health, ecological, climate, and economic evidence that the MVP has no place in our communities, especially during a climate crisis. Our grassroots movement and national allies are all hands on deck at this critical moment to stop the MVP and focus all our energy on bold climate action that secures the livable future we deserve,” said Grace Tuttle of leading frontline group, the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition.

“The Mountain Valley Pipeline has been a pipe dream since 2014 and now, eight years later, it’s barely half complete to full restoration and more than doubled in cost, with a high likelihood of never being completed,” Caroline Hansley, Sierra Club Senior Campaign Representative said. "Our fight is far from over; we won’t give up until this project is canceled for good. While our united communities are much more powerful than polluting corporations, we need real action from our regulators and the administration, who must live up to their climate promises and deny MVP any new permits.”

The 2017 Environmental Impact Statement for the MVP failed to predict the serious adverse environmental impacts that this project has caused, as evidenced by all the permits that MVP has lost over the years. Giving MVP nine years to build its unneeded and dangerous project is in direct opposition to the commission’s own Equity Action Plan and the country’s clean energy future.