Join CCAN's Virtual Night of Action to STOP Manchin's Dirty Deal!

From the Appeal of Grace Tuttle, Protect Our Water—Heritage—Rights, December 7, 2022

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the full text of the Building American Energy Security Act of 2022. He also urged his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support amending the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to include this comprehensive, bipartisan permitting reform and complete the critical Mountain Valley Pipeline.

“Failing to pass the bipartisan, comprehensive energy permitting reform that our country desperately needs is not an acceptable option. As our energy security becomes more threatened every day, Americans are demanding Congress put politics aside and act on commonsense solutions to solve the issues facing us. The Senate must vote to amend the NDAA to ensure the comprehensive, bipartisan permitting reform our country desperately needs is included,” said Chairman Manchin.

To read the Building American Energy Security Act of 2022 in full, click here.

To read a summary of the changes, click here.

CCAN Event: RSVP:
https://act.chesapeakeclimate.org/page/46961/data/1

Description: Join CCAN’s Virtual Night of Action to STOP Manchin’s Dirty Deal!

It’s time. Our senators need to hear from us. We will not stand for Manchin’s dirty deal. We can’t make policy with backroom negotiations that exclude impacted communities. We can’t keep feeding our addiction to fossil fuels.

Our goal is to get 150 residents to email their senator in one night to stop the dirty deal.

6:00-6:15 Latest policy update, Q&A
6:15-6:30 Outreach to personal VA friends and family
6:30-7:00 Textbank with CCAN

>> Grace Tuttle, Development & Programs Coordinator
Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR)

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P.S. The members of the US Congress need to hear from you. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is trying to include his Dirty Deal – to roll back bedrock environmental protections and force the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline – in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We can only block this if enough Senators stand up and promise to vote against the NDAA if it includes the Dirty Deal.

Priority List:
Senator Kaine (202) 224-4024
Senator Warner (202) 224-2023
Senator Carper (202) 224-2441
Senator Schumer (202) 224-6542
Senator Schatz (202) 224-3934
Senator Murray (202) 224-2621
Senator Reed (202) 224-4642
Senator Leahy (202) 224-4242
Senator Warnock (202) 224-3643

Mountain Valley Pipeline can contaminate rivers & streams during construction

Just a reminder of some upcoming comment deadlines on MVP and ACP:
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Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)

The Notice of Scoping comment period for MVP’s request to bore at 180+ waterbodies, FERC Docket CP21-57, closes tomorrow, April 15th at 4:59pm.

If you want to weigh in, here are a couple options:

Public petition from App Voices, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, POWHR + CCAN

(URL to share: bit.ly/MVPscoping)

>>>. CP21-57 Talking points

>>>. Sierra Club petition

>>>. Wild Virginia Guide

>. Submit a Comment via eComment directly into the docket

>. Need help navigating the site?

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Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)

The ACP restoration plan comment period closes Friday, April 16th at 4:59pm.

>>>. Here is information from Friends of Nelson on how to weigh in

>>>. Submit a Comment via eComment directly into the docket

Thank you!
–
Jessica Sims, Virginia Field Coordinator
Appalachian Voices, 812 E. High Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902

(434) 226-0589 office
jessica@appvoices.org

Mountain Valley Pipeline under construction in Virginia

From an Article by Arianna Skibell, E & E News, March 25, 2021

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has denied a bid to stop construction on parts of the embattled Mountain Valley pipeline, despite a stern rebuke from the agency’s two Democratic members.

Mountain Valley “lacks the federal authorizations required to cross over 700 waterbodies and wetlands along the project route,” FERC Chair Richard Glick and Commissioner Allison Clements, both Democrats, wrote in their dissent. “Under these circumstances, allowing piecemeal construction of a project that is still awaiting critical federal authorizations is inconsistent with any reasonable reading of [the pipeline's certificate], not to mention our responsibilities to the landowners, communities, and others who have interests at stake in this proceeding.”

The dispute stems from a FERC decision in December, when the agency — then under Republican leadership — voted to allow the 303-mile natural gas pipeline to resume construction between certain mileposts near the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. A group of environmental advocates led by the Sierra Club contested the ruling.

Republican Commissioners Neil Chatterjee, James Danly and Mark Christie, representing the majority, bypassed Glick’s objections and issued the order denying the Sierra Club challenge yesterday.

While Glick is chair and controls the agency’s agenda, the order marks the limitation of his power without a majority of Democrats on the panel. Chatterjee’s term expires in June, and President Biden is expected to appoint a Democrat to take his place.

The order does not change the status of the $6 billion project that would carry natural gas through West Virginia and Virginia, as Mountain Valley developers resumed construction following FERC’s decision in December and favorable legal rulings.

But the project has faced a series of delays and legal battles and currently lacks a number of permits required for completion, including one to cut through part of the Jefferson National Forest. Financial analysts have predicted that further delays could doom the project.

Wild Virginia, an environmental group that opposes the pipeline, said a stay of the commission’s December order “would have prevented further damage to valuable and sensitive environments along a 17-mile route through our mountains and forests.”

“However, this failure by the Commission, to act responsibly and uphold the public interest, will not stop or slow our efforts to end the MVP once and for all,” said David Sligh, the group’s conservation director, in a statement, using an abbreviation for the project. “Where FERC and other agencies have repeatedly failed us, we seek the court’s intervention and believe we have a great chance of success in those suits.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the Sierra Club’s request to stop construction last month. The case is now pending judicial review, but the court has not set a timeline for its decision.

Analysts at research firm ClearView Energy Partners LLC noted yesterday’s order marks “no change to MVP’s current construction authorizations” but pointed out that Glick and Clements’ dissent offers the Sierra Club a wellspring of legal arguments to draw on in any future litigation.

“We expect the Sierra Club to rely heavily on the dissents (Glick’s from the December order and the joint dissent in today’s order) in their appeal,” ClearView said in a note to clients.

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Senators Kaine and Warner voice concerns about MVP stream crossings

From the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA) Update #305 – April 2, 2021

Virginia’s two U.S. Senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, have written Richard Glick, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to express concerns they have heard from constituents about confusion on recent filings with the agency by Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC (MVP, LLC).

Their March 26 letter asked that the comment period for the public to express their views to FERC be extended by at least 60 days.

The Senators also raised the issue of MVP, LLC’s plans to bore underneath streams, stating:

The environmental impacts of the newly proposed trenchless technology, such as conventional direct bore, horizontal direct drilling (HDD), and “microtunnelling,” are not yet fully understood by impacted parties in Virginia. Boring allows for work to occur up to and under the waterways, which could require blasting and excavation of bore pits required for drilling under water crossings.

Given the unfamiliarity of the proposed boring methods to our constituents, we understand there are many questions and concerns about how this process will impact their daily lives. A detailed environmental survey and a substantial comment period will bring additional transparency and public engagement to FERC’s regulatory process.

Coated 42 inch high pressure pipe is seem at lower right, quite risky for the steep terrain of WV & VA or under rivers & streams

To: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Subject: Docket Number – CP21-57-000; Deny MVP’s request to amend Certificate

Appalachian Voices and our supporters, whose signatures will be submitted, respectfully request that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deny the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s request to amend their Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. There has been no supplemental environmental impact statement for the requested changes, and MVP’s request appears to be an attempt to circumvent restrictions resulting from the loss of water crossing permits, and to interfere with their own application for state-level permits.

Expanding upon their 2020 amendment request, which the Commission did not approve, MVP applies the same approach: altering plans at will, mid-construction, requesting hundreds of variances from approved permit conditions and pursuing conflicting, simultaneous paths to circumvent missing water protection permits. The company’s construction plan—and subsequent environmental impacts—continue to move further from the original, approved certificate. This newest Certificate Amendment is akin to a variance request for the entire route.

Without proper analysis, the public cannot know the severity of impacts to soil, steep slopes, streams and wetlands that would be caused by close to two hundred conventional borings. The company should not receive a blank check to arbitrarily alter construction practices along almost the entire route.

Waterways in steep terrain and with karst geology are not suitable locations for boring, and longer crossings bring additional risk. Multiple requests by Intervenors for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in response to granted variances have gone unanswered by the Commission in the original Docket CP16-10. As construction potentially proceeds, the plans and execution of these plans bear less and less resemblance to what was reviewed and approved by the Commission in 2017 and used to inform other Federal and State agency decisions.

We respectfully ask that the request to amend the certificate be denied. If the FERC is seriously considering this amendment, we request that the Commission undertake a full Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that thoroughly addresses impacts from boring and is accompanied by a 90-day public comment period.

Thank you for consideration of our comments and any additional personal comments our supporters have submitted.

Sincerely, Appalachian Voices & associates

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See also: Appalachian Voices’s petition for the MVP Certificate Amendment, Docket CP21-57

See also: Talking Points, including an intervenor template

Natural gas pipeline disturbances on Nixon Ridge, Marshall County, WV

From an Article by Shelby Davis, WTRF 7News, July 30, 2019

After many unanswered attempts to save his property, one Marshall County resident reached out to 7News for some help. Steven Coladonato moved to West Virginia from Connecticut in 2012 after visiting the area to see his grandkids.

He fell in love with the land on Nixon Ridge in Moundsville and built a brand new home there in 2013. Steven described his land as beautiful, with deer roaming all over his property.

He says he could get on his 4 wheeler, and ride through the country for hours, but claims all of that has changed. Just one year ago, he signed a contract for a 12-inch pipe to run through his land.

Now Steven says the land has slipped multiple times leaving a crumbling foundation. He is blaming Clearwater Construction and HG Energy. The homeowner is fed up.

“The amount of dust factor that’s out here is insane. It’s just terrible. My whole ground has shifted down hill and my foundation. I’m about ready to lose my house because of this. My foundation is gone.”

Steven Coladonato – Marshall County Resident — says that the workers are some of the nicest people he’s met, but he is upset up with the company for what he called neglect to the land on the ridge.

WTRF 7News reached out to the company and are waiting to hear back.

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See also: NATURAL GAS — Landslides, explosions spark fear in pipeline country; Mike Soraghan, E&E News, Energywire, June 4, 2019

MVP sediment pollution in Braxton County, WV

From the Allegheny – Blue Ridge Alliance ABRA Update #241 – 8/16/2019

Impacted landowners, concerned citizens, and trained volunteer monitors participated in a “VioBlitz” over the August 9-11 weekend.

Sponsored by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, an ABRA member and a partner in the ABRA CSI program (Compliance Surveillance Initiative), participants traveled portions of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and documented as many permit violations as possible over a 3-day period.

Volunteers reported approximately 100 potential violations to regulatory agencies across the West Virginia and Virginia, with more than 60 occurring in West Virginia alone. Although responsible state regulatory agencies insist that they have adequate enforcement capacity, there is currently only one dedicated pipeline inspector for the entire state of WV.

It took a dozen volunteer monitors hundreds of hours over three days to trace the route through Monroe, Summers, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Webster, Braxton, Lewis, and Harrison counties. The continued pattern of repeated violations and impacts on water resources calls into question the quality, safety and reliability of MVP construction.

For the health and safety of affected communities and environment, citizen monitors and organizations are calling for the regulatory agencies to immediately issue a stop-work order on the project.

UPPER PHOTO — Heavy runoff laden with sediment overwhelms Mountain Valley Pipeline’s sediment and erosion control barriers, making its way into Oil Creek in Braxton County, WV.

LOWER PHOTO — MVP fails to control sediment and sediment-laden water from leaving their access road impacting Barbecue Run which flows into Knawl Creek, a tributary of Burnsville Lake, Braxton County, WV.

Water pollution on MVP in geographic center of WV

And now, a year later, the protests continue against the MVP

From an Article by Tommy Lopez, WSLS News 10, Roanoke, May 20, 2019

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – Some opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are still sitting high up in the trees in protest, blocking construction of one section.

The last remaining tree-sit still has support in eastern Montgomery County near Elliston. Many pipeline opponents remain there, at the site that’s called Yellow Finch, which is just off US Route 460.

They’ve maintained the protest for the last eight months — through snow, rain and wind — blocking the pipeline’s path and preventing tree-cutting. Multiple protesters have rotated through the two tree-sits during that time.

Crystal Mello took her turn this past weekend, taking the position for about 48 hours. “I can’t picture [the pipeline] coming through here,” she said. “Somebody’s pockets are getting fat off of putting all of us in danger, even their own workers.”

A grandmother who cleans houses, she said it was emotional being up in the trees, supporting the anti-pipeline cause. “We all drink water. We all love these mountains. We all love our neighbors.”

She said hearing stories from landowners who’ve reported damage to their property and hearing of explosions along other pipeline routes motivated her to take action. Her biggest worry is that a pipeline would cause an explosion.

“This is definitely not a Democratic thing. This is definitely not a Republican thing. This should be the most bipartisan thing ever,” Mello said.

WSLS News 10 has told the stories of “Red,” “Nutty” and demonstrators on a Franklin County farm, among others. Now, Yellow Finch is the last tree-sit left on the MVP path.

The protesters can hike up an adjacent mountain to get a birds-eye view of the tree-sit. There, they can see a path of downed trees miles long — trees, which still remain on the ground.

People who live close to the path, like Penny Artis, remain concerned about the project’s effects. “The environment means nothing. Money means everything,” she said.

The pipeline opponents hope to keep their protest going. “The trees that are still standing are being held the best we can, to keep them from coming in,” Artis said. “We’re not eco-terrorists. We just want to live to see tomorrow.”

The MVP remains neither finished nor dead. A company spokesperson said Monday that it’s more than 80% complete and is still on track to be done by the end of the year.

“We respect the opinions of those who are opposed to the MVP project and, more importantly, we want to ensure everyone’s safety throughout the various phases of the construction process,” spokesperson Natalie Cox said in a statement sent to 10 News.

BACKGROUND:
The Mountain Valley Pipeline planned path runs from West Virginia into North Carolina, crossing through Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties in the commonwealth. The natural gas pipeline would travel 303 miles and is estimated to cost $4.6 billion.

Opponents have documented hundreds of alleged examples of environmental harm the project has caused, including water quality effects from storm runoff and erosion.

The project has been met with opposition since the planning stage. Opponents have voiced concerns in local meetings and federal court proceedings, and staged sit-in style protests that have ranged from so-called tree-sits — in which some protesters have positioned themselves in the path of construction workers for more than a month at a time — to protests in which opponents have chained themselves to construction equipment in order to delay work.

A federal agency issued a stop-work order in August for the project, citing environmental concerns. The order was lifted later that month for all sections except two stretches that cross federal land.

In October, a federal court pulled a federal stream-crossing permit, which was a major setback for the project.

In December, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and the Department of Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit against the MVP, citing environmental violations.

The company behind the MVP said it received a letter in January from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia stating that it and the EPA are investigating potential criminal and civil violations of the Clean Water Act and other federal statutes related to the pipeline’s construction.

The MVP cleared a hurdle in March when the State Water Control Board decided it will not consider revoking a key permit. The news came after many pipeline opponents called on the board to take action against the project.

Stream & wetlands disturbances are severe and long lasting

Prepared by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Fact Sheet, 2/19

Background Information Summary

The WV Department of Environmental Protection (WV-DEP) agreed to permit the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline through streams and wetlands according to a Nationwide 12 permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2017, WV-DEP established certain special conditions that must be followed for projects subject to a Nationwide 12 permit to protect the environment. Now, WV-DEP is proposing to change those conditions and are accepting public comment on proposed modifications through March 4, 2019. Comment here.

Key Revisions Proposed by the WV-DEP

The following proposed modifications raise concerns for our rivers and streams:

>>> Allowing exemptions to the 72-hour stream crossing restriction. This condition helps to minimize impacts to water quality and aquatic life. Prolonged dewatering of streambeds can have severe impacts to the life in a stream. Agencies like WV Division of Natural Resources rely on this 72-hour restriction to determine if construction during fish spawning seasons will have ill-effects on fish populations.

>>> Allowing temporary impediments to fish passage. This condition helps to minimize impacts to fish species by preventing structures that impede fish passage. WV-DEP is changing this condition to allow structures to impede fish passage as long as they are not permanent; however the length of time that fish passage will be prevented is not defined.

>>> Waiving the requirement for an individual water quality certification for large pipelines. This condition is in place to assure that stream and wetland crossings for large-scale pipelines (over 36” in diameter) get the careful analysis and individualized plans required to better ensure protection of water quality.

>>> Allowing for the removal of any permit conditions with no public scrutiny. Standard and special permit conditions are in place to make sure that when a nationwide permit is used there is a baseline of protections that will be enforced. These conditions become meaningless if the regulatory agency is allowed to remove or waive them, especially without any requirement for public notice and comment.

The WV-DEP states the modifications are necessary so that companies are not prevented from using more environmentally protective methods. This simply is not true. WV-DEP currently has the authority to reject coverage of large-scale projects under a one-size-fits-all Nationwide permit, and can instead come up with protective methods customized to the needs of the project through an individual permit.

How to Comment to the WV Department of Environmental Protection

Comments can be submitted online here, via email at WQSComments@wv.gov, or by mail to:

401 Water Quality Certification Program
ATTN: Nancy Dickson, WV-DEP
601 57th Street SE
Charleston, WV 25304-2345

The Appalachian Trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Letter to Editor of Morgantown Dominion Post, February 4, 2019

Rebecca McPhail of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, (DP-Jan.17) makes so many false and deceptive claims about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), manufacturing in West Virginia and environmentalists, it is hard to know what to correct first.

She claims West Virginia “is sitting on a gold mine of energy and economic prosperity,” but environmental activists threaten this prosperity by blocking “construction of the ACP.” She goes on to claim these activists threaten manufacturing jobs in West Virginia and that 4,500 construction jobs will be lost, if the pipeline is not completed.

First, the ACP was not designed to support manufacturers in West Virginia; it was designed to move Marcellus shale gas out of West Virginia to supply already saturated markets on the Atlantic seaboard and for export. In fact, the Obama administration granted Dominion Energy, one of ACP’s stakeholders, the right to export natural gas to markets such as Japan and India in 2013.

Second, McPhail’s claims about construction jobs are clearly inflated and misleading. ACP provided these numbers, and they are based on a cumulative jobs methodology that counts construction jobs as the average yearly workforce multiplied by the number of project years, in this case six, to complete the work. So, the real number is closer to 750 jobs. Many of these jobs would go to outof-state workers, and in fact the major pipeline construction companies hired by ACP are from Texas, Wisconsin and Oregon.

Third, there is a broad coalition of concerned West Virginians opposed to the pipeline for legitimate reasons. Many landowners in the path of the pipeline contest ACP’s use of eminent domain for private gain, as it takes land from its rightful owners for so-called “public infrastructure.”

It’s time for industry lobbyists like McPhail to stop characterizing criticism of the ACP as “re fl e x ive opposition.” It is clear that the ACP and its supporters make false and deceptive claims to distract from the true cost of pipeline development. Let’s do an honest and impartial assessment of those costs.

John P. Lambertson, Morgantown, WV

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The Pipeline vs. The Trail: How the A.T. Saved the South – for now | Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine

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ONLINE RESOURCES: AN UPDATE | Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition

CSI VOLUNTEER OPTIONS | Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition

Stream Crossing Rules in Revision in West Virginia. — Public Input Solicited

From the Appalachian Blue Ridge Alliance, Update 213, January 17, 2019

Modifications to the West Virginia regulations covering stream crossings for pipelines and similar projects have been proposed by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The modifications address the issue of the state’s existing requirement governing the timeframe within which stream crossing must be completed within 72 hours. Public comments on the proposal must be submitted by March 4, 2019. For further details on the proposal, click here.

Mountain Valley Pipeline starts the new year with new complications — The Roanoke Times – 1/16/19

West Virginia has reopened a public comment period for modifications to a combined state and federal permitting process that Mountain Valley must complete before it can dig trenches through streams and wetlands.

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FERC Approves Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) Stabilization Measures

A plan for stabilization measures on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route during cessation of construction activity on the project was approved January 10 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The plan had been submitted to the agency in the wake of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals December 7 decision to stay the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement for the project. The Southern Environmental Law Center, Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Chesapeake Bay Foundation had written FERC on December 21 asking that the agency to require the company to remove strung pipe from the right-of-way rather than allow it to continue to install pipe along a route that is not authorized by law, but the request was ignored.

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The Myth of ‘Clean’ Natural Gas – - Environmental Working Group – 1/15/19
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/01/myth-clean-natural-gas

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Immediate fossil fuel phaseout could arrest climate change — The Guardian – 1/15/19

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/15/immediate-fossil-fuel-phaseout-could-arrest- climate-change-study

Scientists say it may still technically be possible to limit warming to 1.5C if drastic action is taken now.