Wild & Wonderful West Virginia, if we can keep it?

From the Letter of Leslee McCarty, The Beckley Register Herald, March 27, 2021

The Greenbrier River is one of West Virginia’s crown jewels. Why risk ramming the 42-inch Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) across it so the big out-of-state energy corporation can profit?

After the courts threw out MVP’s slapdash plans to dig a trench across the Greenbrier, the MVP is asking the state to approve – six years into the project – a new plan to bore under the river.

The bore at Pence Springs would use half a million gallons of water mixed with drilling mud and take up to four months to complete. It will be the longest bore on the MVP – nine times the average. If any of that drilling mud gets into the river, it would be a disaster for both tourism – the one industry offering real hope for the area – and the health of the river itself.

MVP has a terrible record. State officials in West Virginia and Virginia have fined the project more than $2.7 million because – as the Roanoke Times put it – “construction on steep mountainsides has led to muddy runoff, and to hundreds of violations of environmental regulations meant to control erosion and sedimentation.”

Environmental Hydrologist Dr. Jacob Hileman says the MVP would have more impact on forests and streams than any other gas pipeline. He called the MVP “an unprecedented and highly consequential experiment.”

Why do we have to risk the best things we have? Will we continue to allow West Virginia to be a sacrifice zone for big energy corporations, or will we protect our vulnerable water resources? Sadly, the Legislature seems to want to ignore the health and safety of our water. I hope the WV Department of Environmental Protection doesn’t ignore MVP’s impact on the Greenbrier River.

Let’s stop this misguided pipeline project now and get to work on renewable energy projects for a sustainable, clean energy future!

Leslee McCarty, Founding Member,
Greenbrier River Watershed Association
Lewisburg, WV

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Final remaining tree sitter removed from MVP site, arrested

From a Newscast of WDBJ News 7, Roanoke, VA on March 24, 2021

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) – According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office, the final remaining tree sitter has been removed from the site of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Alexander Lowe, 24 of Worcester, Massachusetts, was arrested and charged with Obstruction of Justice and Interfering with the Property Rights of Another. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail with no bond.

The Virginia State Police worked from a crane-suspended basket to safely remove the man from the “sleeping dragon” and the tree. He was checked by medics after being lowered to the ground. The sheriff’s office said he received no injuries during the extraction.

Tree sitters understand that the intrusive large 42 inch pipe is not needed

Lowe was the lone remaining tree sitter Wednesday after all others were removed Tuesday from the site on Yellow Finch Lane.

Law enforcement worked Tuesday to negotiate with the tree sitters, who had been protesting the building of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for more than two years. One tree sitter, a 23-year-old woman from Vermont, was arrested Tuesday.

Environmental assessments and protection lacking ...

From an Article by Jonathan Sokolow, Blue Virginia, May 28, 2018

In recent weeks, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) started tree clearing and ground preparation for its proposed 42-inch, 303-mile fracked natural gas pipeline running from West Virginia through Virginia. Almost immediately, reports emerged that MVP and its contractor, Precision Pipeline, LLC were wreaking havoc on Virginia’s water and land resources. Photos and video evidence clearly showed that Precision Pipeline, a Wisconsin company, had no idea how to deal with the springtime mountain rains that typify southwest Virginia, leading to landslides, mud on roads and sediment pollution in creeks and streams. And this massive construction project has only just begun.

Activists are screaming “we told you so” because they have been saying for four years that the Mountain Valley Pipeline cannot be safely built in the mountainous regions of southwest Virginia. Local residents, with growing support from around the Commonwealth, have been arguing that construction of this pipeline alone would create permanent damage to the forests, creeks, streams, springs, and rivers on which hundreds of thousands of people depend for their drinking water. This does not even begin to account for the additional harm that the fracked gas’ methane and other pollutants themselves would cause to our environment. State officials have all but ignored these concerns.

The evidence of Precision Pipeline’s incompetence in the initial stages of this project is mounting, as shown here. In fact, a new Facebook page was just created to catalogue the daily damage being inflicted.

It has gotten so bad that even the weak and/or incompetent Virginia Department of Environmental Quality was forced to concede that one of these incidents was “clearly unacceptable,” leading to an order temporarily stopping construction at a site in Franklin County.

It turns out that someone else is saying we told you so: Dominion Resources. Yes, THAT Dominion Resources.

It turns out that Dominion’s wholly owned subsidiary, Dominion Transmission, Inc. (“DTI”) has been fighting Precision Pipeline in federal court for almost three years in a battle royale over a pipeline that Precision built for Dominion several years ago in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. That fracked gas pipeline, which was part of Dominion’s larger Appalachian Gateway Project, was a relatively small 30 inches in diameter and “only” 55-miles long. The case is pending in federal court in Richmond and is expected to go to trial in October.

Precision completed and was paid for the project – and then sued Dominion for $86 million in additional charges that it claims it is owed. Dominion denies it owes anything more and points, in part, to a series of expert reports that it says document Precision’s incompetence in building the pipeline.

In one of those reports, never before released but published here for the first time (see below), an engineering firm hired by Dominion details a long and terrifying account of Precision Pipeline’s incompetence when it comes to causing landslides during pipeline construction.

Yes, landslides. Thirteen of them. In a 55-mile pipeline project. With a 30-inch pipe. In non-mountainous terrain.

The expert report, prepared by Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. (“CEC”) an engineering firm hired by Dominion’s law firm, McGuireWoods LLP, shows the following:

· At least thirteen landslides occurred during construction of the pipeline built by Precision for the Appalachian Gateway Project. Each of these landslides is meticulously documented in the expert report:
. “Precision was aware the project was located in an area with landslide risks and, knowing this…did not employ appropriate construction methods to reduce the number of landslides that occurred. As a result, a greater number of landslides occurred on the ROW [Right of Way] and Precision’s refusal to repair them resulted in DTI incurring the cost of repair.”
· “Fill placed by Precision in some areas contained unsuitable materials (e.g., elevated organics), and fill was not adequately compacted to provide soil stability….”
· “Knowing that there was a risk of landslides developing, Precision failed to employ earthwork methods in accordance with industry standards…. Landslides occurred due to failure to install subsurface drains in high-risk or seepage areas, failure to provide adequate surface water controls, failure to remove wood chips and other organic debris from fill slope areas, failure to properly construct ESC features, and failure to adequately compact fill.”

These are not the words of activists, or tree sitters, or affected landowners. These are the words of an engineering firm hired by Dominion! Virginia’s DEQ has turned a deaf ear to local residents who have been screaming for this project to stop and stop now.

Governor Northam has ignored tree sitters who have placed their bodies in the path of the pipeline. He has refused to honor his own campaign promise – made on video – that DEQ would do a stream-by-stream analysis of this pipeline before construction proceeds. And he has broken another campaign promise – also caught on video – that he and his wife would hold “focus groups” to address local concerns.

Meanwhile, state officials have ignored the pleas of more than one dozen elected officialsand Democratic committees who say that the Mountain Valley Pipeline (as well as the much larger Atlantic Coast Pipeline) should be stopped.

Maybe these state officials will listen to Dominion? Maybe they will be swayed by the arguments of McGuire Woods, Dominion’s attorneys, who many consider to be Virginia’s “shadow government.”

Thirteen landslides in a 55-mile project. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is almost six times that length. Do the math. And that’s just landslides.

What about sediment in streams? What about damage to farmland, damage to drinking water, damage to tourism in some of the most pristine areas of Virginia and the resulting damage to property values and the local economy.

So Governor Northam – and I cannot believe I am writing these words – maybe on this one you should listen to Dominion! Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline before Virginia’s future – and your legacy – are drowned in a muddy landslide.

It’s never too late to do the right thing.

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MORATORIUM ON NEW GAS INFRASTRUCTURE INCLUDED IN DRAFT STATEMENT FROM ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice reached consensus May 30 on a draft statement recommending a moratorium on new gas infrastructure in the Commonwealth and calling for a stream-by-stream assessment of the impact of both the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines.

The advisory council, created by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2017, also said the placing of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s compressor station in Union Hill, a historic African-American community in Buckingham County, exhibits racism and maintained that the human rights of protestors — including those who have engaged in tree sits — are being violated by state and local law enforcement officials as well as the U.S. Forestry Service.

Consensus on a final draft will be worked out quickly, members said, and the language could be modified. No timetable has been set, but council members said it was important to finalize their recommendations before decisions are made by other regulatory bodies. When completed, the recommendations will be sent to Gov. Northam.

The council held its May 30 meeting in Buckingham County to give members a first-hand view of areas that will be impacted by the ACP and compressor station. It also heard concerns expressed by about 30 people during a public comment period. Matt Strickler, Secretary of Natural Resources, joined the council for its meeting.

~~ Robert Dilday, co-director, Interfaith Alliance for Climate Justice

— in Buckingham, Virginia on May 31, 2018

WVDEP Launches Webpage Dedicated to Helping Citizens Learn About Pipeline Projects

From the WV-DEP Webpage, Pipeline Projects, April 2, 2018

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (April 2, 2018) – The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) has launched an easy to use webpage designed to help citizens learn more about five major proposed or under construction natural gas pipelines.

The page is available here.

The five pipelines that are the focus of the webpage are the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Mountain Valley Pipeline, the Mountaineer Gas Company Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project, Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline, and the Rover Pipeline.

“We are making sure that anyone who has any questions about these pipelines can find those answers on one easy to use webpage,” WVDEP Cabinet Secretary Austin Caperton said. “People who live near these projects deserve to be able to find answers to their questions quickly, and WVDEP is providing this new webpage to help them do that.”

Available on the webpage is information such as detailed maps of the proposed route of pipeline routes and a link to WVDEP’s searchable online database where additional information such as any inspection and enforcement action and any permit modifications can be found. Also available are public hearing transcripts, responses to comments received at public hearings, and press releases about the pipelines. The page will be updated as more information on each pipeline becomes available. Citizens will also be able to submit reports of possible permit violations via this webpage.

Major Pipelines Under Construction In West Virginia

Mountain Valley Pipeline

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is a natural gas pipeline that spans approximately 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia – and as an interstate pipeline will be regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The MVP will be constructed and owned by Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, which is a joint venture of EQT Midstream Partners, LP; NextEra US Gas Assets, LLC; Con Edison Transmission, Inc.; WGL Midstream; and RGC Midstream, LLC. MVP has been issued a construction stormwater permit that covers the discharge of stormwater associated with the disturbance of approximately 4,214 acres of land for the construction of approximately 196 miles of natural gas pipeline along with compressor stations, meter stations, access roads, and interconnects through Wetzel, Harrison, Doddridge, Lewis, Braxton, Webster, Nicholas, Greenbrier, Fayette, Summers, and Monroe Counties in West Virginia.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is a natural gas pipeline being developed by a partnership of four companies: Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Company Gas. The ACP has been issued a construction stormwater permit for the disturbance of approximately 2,497 acres of land for the construction of approximately 98.7 miles of natural gas pipeline along with a compressor station, meter stations, access roads, and interconnects through Harrison, Lewis, Upshur, Randolph, and Pocahontas Counties in West Virginia.

Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline

The Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline (MXP) is a natural gas pipeline consisting of approximately 170.9 miles (3,648 acres) of various diameter pipelines, modifications to three existing compressor stations, the construction of three new compressor stations, three new regulating stations, and a number of other modifications at various aboveground facility sites. The MXP has been issued a construction stormwater permit for activities in West Virginia. Project activities will occur throughout Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie, Calhoun, Wirt, Roane, Jackson, Mason, Putnam, Cabell, Wayne and Kanawha counties in West Virginia.

Mountaineer Gas Company Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project

The Mountaineer Gas Company Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project is a proposed project that is comprised of approximately 23 miles of natural gas pipeline through: Morgan and Berkeley Counties in West Virginia. This registration would be for the discharge of stormwater associated with the disturbance of 191.7 acres of land for the construction of the project.

Rover Pipeline

The Rover Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline that will span approximately 713-miles originating in southeastern Ohio, northwestern West Virginia, and southwestern Pennsylvania. The pipeline continues north across the state of Ohio to an interconnection in Defiance, Ohio. It will then cross into Michigan where it will terminate in Livingston County. There are three laterals of the pipeline in West Virginia: the Burgettstown lateral (5.5 miles of 36-inch diameter steel natural gas pipeline disturbing 87.70 acres in Hancock County), the Majorsville lateral (12.3 miles of 24-inch diameter steel natural gas pipeline, a compressor station, a meter station, and a laucher pad disturbing 159.9 acres of land in Marshall County), and the Sherwood lateral (35.7 miles of 36 inch diameter and 5.8 miles of 24-inch diameter steel natural gas pipelines, a meter station, and compressor station, disturbing 713.8 acres in Wetzel, Tyler, and Doddridge counties).

If you would like to notify WVDEP’s Environmental Enforcement of a potential issue with these pipelines, please submit a report through our online portal here on our website.

The number to report an emergency spill is 1-800-642-3074. Complaints can also be emailed to DEP.EEWebcomplaint@wv.gov.

Resisting disturbances & pollution in the scenic mountains

From an Article by Joseph Abbate, Blue Virginia, January 5, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting that it grant a rehearing request on the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). Kaine’s letter supports formal requests for rehearing made by a number of stakeholder groups and individual Virginians living along the proposed pipeline routes.

“The Commission approved the MVP and ACP on 2-1 votes when two of the five commissioner slots were vacant. The split decisions were most unusual – 98% of FERC orders in 2016 were unanimous. Given that the Commission now has a full complement of five members, there is a real concern about whether the divided rulings by a partial Commission fairly reflect the FERC position,” Kaine said.

Kaine also asked for clarification on “tolling orders,” which some have contended is a way for FERC to freeze legal appeals while allowing construction to move forward. Highlighting the unusual circumstances surrounding the approval of the pipelines, Kaine requested that FERC invoke its rehearing option to ensure maximum public confidence that its final decision followed every step of the process to the fullest extent.

While the letter does not endorse or oppose the views of these petitioners on the substantive merits of the applications, Kaine believes that FERC needs to make these decisions following a full and fair process that accounts for technical analysis and public input.

FERC approved the MVP and ACP jointly on October 13, 2017, with two of the five commissioner seats vacant. The new commissioners were sworn in on November 29 and December 7, respectively. In 2016, 98% of FERC orders were unanimous.

The full text of the letter appears below and here.

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Dear Chairman McIntyre and Commissioners:

I request that FERC grant rehearings on the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline petitions.

The Commission approved the MVP and ACP on 2-1 votes when two of the five commissioner slots were vacant. The split decisions were most unusual – 98% of FERC orders in 2016 were unanimous. Given that the Commission now has a full complement of five members, there is a real concern about whether the divided rulings by a partial Commission fairly reflect the FERC position.

In addition, I would like to request fuller understanding of “tolling orders.” In many cases in which a request for rehearing is filed, FERC issues a tolling order to take more than the allotted 30 days to decide on the request, during which time legal options are frozen but construction may proceed.

This suggests that even if an original FERC decision changes upon either rehearing or judicial order, it could be moot if the project is already built and any impacts already felt. I would like to know whether this is your interpretation as well, and if so, whether you believe this is consistent with the intent of the rehearing option.

To be clear, I do not endorse or oppose the views of these petitioners on the substantive merits of these projects. Having Congress vote on individual projects would inevitably lead to partisan decision-making, and it is appropriate that a technical agency consider projects according to a robust public input process, laid out in federal law.

I appreciate your recent announcement that the Commission would revisit its 1999 standing policy on pipeline applications, in light of major changes to the U.S. energy economy since then. It is important for the public to have confidence in the integrity of FERC’s process. All I request is for every step of that process to be followed to the fullest extent of the law.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Tim Kaine, U. S. Senate, January 5, 2018

Example of Drilling Mud Spill for Pipeline

From an Article by Joe Fisher and Maya Weber, Platts News Service, August 9, 2017

Houston — Energy Transfer Partners’ beleaguered Rover Pipeline natural gas project is expected to be in service by the end of November or early December, with full commercial service in January, company executives said Wednesday.

>>> Phase 1A of Rover — from Cadiz to Defiance, Ohio — is nearly done, with completion expected by the company in the coming days, executives said during a second-quarter earnings conference call. When finished, Rover will seek US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permission to place those facilities into service.

>>> Phase 1B is awaiting FERC approval for one directional drill. With that approval in hand, the drill should be completed in about 40 days, and in-service authorization will be sought immediately after that, executives said.

>>> Rover Phase 2 is held up at FERC as well.

“Assuming quick resolution by FERC regarding Phase 2, we expect to be in service by the end of November or early December with full commercial service in January,” Energy Transfer CFO Tom Long said.

Rover has faced regulatory setbacks after drilling releases into Ohio wetlands and demolition of a farmhouse that had been eligible for listing on a national historic registry. FERC initiated investigations related to both matters and ordered a stop to some directional drilling. The Ohio EPA has also proposed fines related to environmental mishaps and ordered remediation. And West Virginia regulators last month halted some operations in light of erosion and runoff problems.

Any signoff to bring parts of the project into service will require first satisfying FERC. The agency on July 12 gave Rover a substantial list of environmental restoration work it would require before allowing Mainline A of the project to enter service.

In addition, FERC has said that prior to authorizing future HDDs, commission staff “anticipates the development of a set of protocols to prevent future drilling and mud contamination.”

Cleanups to ‘resolve themselves pretty quickly’

Matt Ramsey, Energy Transfer’s chief operating officer, said Rover has been working with Ohio EPA and fully complying with its order for a cleanup project at the Tuscarawas River where an inadvertent release of drilling mud occurred. Cleanup is expected to be completed by mid-August, he said.

“Those issues are going to resolve themselves pretty quickly,” Ramsey said.

The drilling mud discharge contained diesel fuel of an unknown origin.

Energy Transfer maintains it does not know where the diesel could have come from. ETP executives do not expect FERC’s investigation into the matter to hold up bringing Rover into service, they said Wednesday.

In one positive development for the Rover project Wednesday, West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection lifted a cease and desist order it had issued in mid-July halting work on two supply laterals and a compressor station in Doddridge and Tyler counties. An inspection Wednesday determined that violations had been corrected, the DEP said. The agency had previously flagged failures to maintain erosion control devices needed to keep sediment out of waterways.

Energy Transfer recently announced the sale of a large stake in Rover to private equity firm Blackstone for $1.57 billion. Closing of the deal is not dependent upon the full in-service of Rover, executives said. Closing with Blackstone is expected in October.

Construction of the Rover-related Revolution project is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter, executives said Wednesday. The Revolution Pipeline originates in Butler County, Pennsylvania, and will extend to ETP’s Revolution Plant, a new cryogenic gas processing plant in Western Pennsylvania.

Mariner 2 Drill Approvals

Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline project also has been bedeviled by regulatory and/or environmental issues. According to Long on Wednesday, about 80% of the pipeline has been strung and more than 70% has been welded. More than half of the pipeline has been lowered into its trench and backfilled.

Long said Wednesday that a halt on horizontal directional drilling in Pennsylvania instituted in July had been partially resolved.

“Over the last several days, the [Pennsylvania Environmental] Hearing Board has authorized ME2 to proceed with 16 drill locations,” he said. “We are working for approval to complete the remaining drills,” he said of the 39 drill sites where works remains stopped.

Mariner East 2 is expected to be in service during the fourth quarter, according to Energy Transfer.

The company has been in talks with potential partners that would provide capital for Mariner East 2 through a joint venture. Mackie McCrea, ETP’s chief commercial officer, said the company prefers a partner in the project that would bring long-term demand charges or long-term purchases.

Energy Transfer has been working on extending and restructuring “the vast majority” of agreements related to Mariner East 2. Rover is key to Mariner East 2 as well as the Revolution project, executives said.

The company is looking forward to a stronger balance sheet as these and other projects come online and begin generating revenue, and leverage comes down, executives said. Once earnings catch up with three years’ worth of project funding, its equity overhang will go away and there will be a “totally different balance sheet,” Long said.

During the second quarter, Energy Transfer Partners net income was $292 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $1.6 billion. Adjusted EBITDA increased $229 million compared to the year-ago quarter, “reflecting significantly higher results from the midstream and crude oil transportation and services segments,” the company said.

Wayne National Forest in Ohio Valley

Ohio investigates cause of weekend earthquake in drilling region

From an Article by Marion Renault, The Columbus Dispatch, April 4, 2017

State officials are investigating whether a magnitude 3.0 earthquake in the Wayne National Forest was caused by nearby oil and gas operations. It wouldn’t be the first time: Hundreds of temblors have been linked to drilling operations and injection wells in Ohio and other states.

The Ohio quake occurred about 8 a.m. Sunday near Graysville in Monroe County in the national forest’s Marietta Unit. Activity at nearby wells was halted within an hour after the quake, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, whose seismologists are investigating the quake’s potential sources.

According to the state, eight permitted Utica shale well sites are within 5 miles of the epicenter of Sunday’s earthquake, which is about 120 miles southeast of Columbus; the quake was not related to Monroe County’s sole, inactive injection well.

Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to fracture rock formations and release trapped oil and gas. The wastewater that comes up with the oil and gas can be reused, but disposal eventually is necessary. Frequently, that wastewater is injected deep underground.

“Review of the seismic data placed the event … in proximity to ongoing oil- and gas-well completion operations,” Department of Natural Resources spokesman Steve Irwin said in an email. “The division continues to evaluate seismic data and completion operations in the area.”

It’s too soon to connect regional hydraulic fracturing with Sunday’s quake, said Miami University seismologist Mike Brudzinski. “I think it’s natural to think of this as a potential relationship. The next step is trying to do the science to make sure that’s true,” he said.

Brudzinski said Ohio typically experiences earthquakes of this magnitude a couple of times a year. Still, he noted that the state’s southeastern region is not one with a long history of seismic activity.

That region is slated for more fracking activity. Since December, federal officials have auctioned the oil and gas leasing rights for more than 1,800 acres of the Wayne National Forest’s Marietta Unit for eventual fracking.

“The reason this (earthquake) is generating more attention is the location,” Brudzinski said. “People are concerned about this as an indication of a risk involved with hydraulic fracturing.”

To that end, environmentalists are calling on federal officials to withdraw plans for fracking in Ohio’s only national forest.  “We know this has occurred in Ohio and across the country before,” said Jen Miller, director of Sierra Club Ohio. “I think it (raises) the question of, ‘Why are we doing more of this?’”

In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey released results of its first widespread examination of possible links between earthquakes and the oil and gas industry. It reported that oil and gas drilling and wastewater-injection wells spurred hundreds of earthquakes in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas as well as Ohio.

Since 2014, after earthquakes connected with oil and gas industry activity affected parts of eastern and northeastern Ohio, the state has required operators of any fracked well within 3 miles of a known fault or in areas prone to seismic activity to install seismic monitors. Operators of injection wells that take fracking wastewater and operate in areas where earthquakes have happened also are required to monitor for quakes.

A team of Miami University researchers published a study in 2015 that linked nearly 80 quakes in Mahoning County to nearby oil and gas operations. Another team of researchers published a report in 2014 arguing that fracking triggered hundreds of small earthquakes on a previously unmapped fault in Harrison County in 2013.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

"HELP-!" Save our land, forests, streams

Mountain Valley Pipeline Project would disturb hundreds of miles of land and streams

Submitted by April Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Association, March 13, 2016

Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has filed an application for a stormwater permit from the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The pipeline would disturb hundreds of stream and wetland crossings in West Virginia.

We are asking everyone to send an email now to WVDEP to request:

1. DEP should not review the MVP stormwater permit application until after the FERC has issued their permit (or at least finalized the route).

2. DEP should hold public hearings in each county crossed by the MVP in West Virginia.

For the most part, the WVDEP staff is a group of individuals who care about the environment in West Virginia. They are underpaid and overworked. Sadly, there are not enough resources to hire the staff that DEP needs to adequately review permits and to inspect sites. We citizens need our government to allocate resources in the best way possible and we need local public hearings so that we can fully participate.

Make your message short and to the point. The following sample gives the e-mail addresses and names that your message should be sent to.

Thank you for helping to protect our water and support the best use of WVDEP resources.

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TO: Scott.g.mandirola@wv.gov, randy.c.huffman@wv.gov

SUBJECT: Do not review MVP stormwater permit until after the FERC issues a permit.

Randy Huffman, Cabinet Secretary, WVDEP
Scott Mandirola, Director, Division of Water and Waste Management
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Charleston, WV

Re: Permit ID – WVR310667

Dear Secretary Huffman and Director Mandirola,

I am writing to request the following:

1. DEP should not review the Mountain Valley Pipeline stormwater permit application until after the FERC has issued their permit:

· DEP should follow a fiscally responsible course with taxpayer’s money. It is a waste of WVDEP’s time, manpower and resources to review Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) stormwater application until after the FERC issues a Certificate of Need, or at least issues their Draft Environmental Impact Statement recommending a route for the pipeline.

· The route that MVP has submitted in its application may not get approved by the FERC or may undergo serious modification, as evidenced by MVP’s major route revisions in Monroe and other counties as well as a recent Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline route change.

· The State of West Virginia is in enough of a fiscal crisis without wasting a great amount of WVDEP staff time and money on a potential project. The $1750.00 application fee will not come close to covering the State’s expenses on this review.

· DEP staff should spend their time reviewing, investigating and enforcing existing permits.

2. DEP should hold public hearings in each county that the MVP route goes through:

· The MVP proposed pipeline route is over 300 miles long and would result in the disturbance of hundreds of stream and wetland crossings in West Virginia.

· It is important that DEP collect site specific information from landowners along the route. Holding public hearings in each county would afford landowners the opportunity to provide important information that is not currently available in DEP or other national and state databases.

April P. Keating, Buckhannon, WV