Virginia State Water Control Board upholds approvals for pipeline projects

The Virginia State Water Control Board voted Tuesday to uphold its approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The unanimous vote by the Board came after DEQ’s evaluation of more than 13,000 public comments received regarding the sufficiency of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12) to protect stream crossings impacted by the MVP and ACP projects. The Board also heard DEQ staff reports on the status of both projects regarding public complaints, inspections, compliance and enforcement.

The Board’s motion instructed DEQ to continue to aggressively hold both projects in compliance through inspections and enforcement activities to the maximum extent of the agency’s authority. In addition, the Board directed DEQ to share relevant information from the public comment period with the Corps for its consideration in administering and enforcing NWP 12 to ensure protection of state waters.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Board also voted to defeat a motion to amend or revoke DEQ’s certification of the Corps’ NWP 12.

“I was pleased the Board reversed its earlier decision and gave meeting attendees the opportunity to share feedback during the meeting,” said DEQ Director David Paylor, who sits on the Board as a non-voting member. “Through their actions yesterday, the Board sent a clear message to DEQ to continue to hold these projects accountable by monitoring and enforcing protective measures of Virginia’s waters to fullest extent of our authority.”

The vote was met with strong rebukes from environmental groups in Virginia.

“The board’s action today squandered a powerful opportunity to protect the waters in communities across Virginia,” said Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Greg Buppert. We have seen firsthand that pipeline construction in Virginia cannot be done without causing serious and permanent sedimentation problems to rivers and streams. The ACP and MVP will cross Virginia waters more than a thousand times. The people of the Commonwealth deserve better than blanket assurances that everything will be ok when the facts on the ground show that they are not.”

“The pipeline companies have cut corners and aggressively pushed for approval before complete information about the impacts were understood,” said Anne Havemann, General Counsel for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Reviewing federal courts have thrown out key permits for both pipelines, finding that agencies failed to adequately protect endangered species, national forests, and treasured places such as the Blue Ridge Parkway. These invalidated permits were so critical that FERC has halted construction on both pipelines.”

More from Havemann:

“David Paylor’s DEQ likewise pushed for approval from the State Water Control Board before the impacts of the pipelines were understood — the agency recommended approval before critical pollution mitigation plans were in place. Today was the Board’s opportunity to hit pause on construction and require the agency to fully account for impacts to Virginia’s waters — a desperately needed pause for the landowners whose drinking water, streams, and property are threatened by these pipelines. We’re sorely disappointed that the Board passed up this critical opportunity.

“Instead of requiring an individual review, the Board instead called on DEQ to conduct aggressive compliance efforts. While we are still reviewing the Board’s decision it appears to have no teeth, and could allow sediment to continue to be dumped into the water with impunity. In the midst of public outcry and ongoing harm to water quality, we cannot applaud a decision that merely requires the DEQ do the job it should have been doing all along.

“Today is a shameful day for David Paylor’s Department of Environmental Quality, and a sad day for Virginians. But, the fight is not over. We will continue taking these pipelines to court. We are confident that the federal courts will continue to overturn the insufficient permits for these pipelines, and evidence will prove once and for all that these pipelines should never be built.”

Peter Anderson, Virginia Program Manager with Appalachian Voices, offered criticism pointed at Gov. Ralph Northam.

“Thousands of citizens across the commonwealth have raised their voices and concerns about the folly of these two fracked-gas pipelines, experts have testified to the dangers of the projects as evidenced by countless construction violations already, and elected officials have objected to the state’s rushed review process. Despite this, and despite Governor Northam’s campaign promise to ensure thorough stream-by-stream reviews, his administration has ceded the quality of Virginia’s waters to Trump’s Corps of Engineers,” Anderson said.

More from Anderson: 

“Today, three members of the State Water Control Board stood up for Virginia, recognizing that despite the assurances they received from DEQ, the scale of these projects merit greater scrutiny that could lead to amendments or even revocation of the permits.

“Now more than ever, Virginians need Governor Northam to take a stand to put Virginia’s water quality above the corporate interests pushing these dangerous, risky fracked-gas pipelines.”

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Attorney and Virginia Assistant Director Peggy Sanner called the decision “a major blow to protecting our rivers and streams from threats from these pipelines.”

More from Sanner:

“In just the first few months of construction, the Mountain Valley Pipeline has polluted rivers and streams with sediment, triggered mudslides, and put drinking water sources at risk. The Board’s action will not prevent this damage from occurring on an even larger scale if construction on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline ramps up. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would cross Virginia waterways nearly 1,000 times, polluting waters from the mountains to the Chesapeake Bay.

“It is notable that Board members acknowledged that so far the process on the ground has not been sufficient to keep pollution out of our waters. But the Board’s failure to take more meaningful action is disappointing.

“This fall our petition challenging the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s water quality certification comes before the Court. Substantial evidence has been submitted demonstrating that the current certification for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is simply inadequate to protect scores of streams and rivers from pollution.”