Mountain Valley Pipeline Approved for Erosion Control Plans

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has approved erosion, sediment and storm water control plans for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Until now, work on the pipeline has been limited to felling trees, but with the Virginia DEQ’s approval work will soon begin on digging trenches for the 303-mile buried pipeline, according to The Roanoke Times. The approval comes following an extensive Virginia DEQ review of erosion control for the project, which began in March 2016.

Environmentalists fear the project will lead to sediment runoff contaminating waterways, private wells and municipal water supplies.

“Today, the Virginia DEQ betrayed the public and doomed our streams, wetlands and groundwater to dire threats and certain damages that should never be accepted,” David Sligh, conservation director of Wild Virginia told The Roanoke Times.

The Virginia DEQ has called the oversight process for the Mountain Valley Pipeline “more rigorous than any other pipeline in Virginia history.” They also point to a recently passed Virginia law, which enables the DEQ to issue a stop-work authority on a pipeline they deem harmful to water quality, as an added tool to control pipeline construction environmental impact. Currently, the Virginia DEQ is in the process of reviewing erosion and sediment control plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would pass through central Virginia.