State Water Control Board Hearings


The Virginia State Water Control Board will hold meetings during the first two weeks in December on the water quality certification applications, required under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, for the proposed Atlantic Coast and the Mountain Valley Pipelines.

Each meeting is scheduled to last about two days. On the first day of each meeting, those who made oral or written comments during the public comment period will have an opportunity to sign up to speak to the board under the board’s policy for public participation. The meetings are public, and, if at all possible, we urge you to be there to speak (if eligible) and to support those opposing certification.

The official agenda is here.

The schedule for the meetings:

The first-day agendas for both pipeline meetings call for a summary presentation by staff of comments made during the public comment period and hearings, followed by an opportunity for those who commented at the public hearings or filed comments during the public comment period to respond to the staff summary. Board consideration of the pending applications are slated to occur on the second day (December 7 for MVP; December 12 for ACP). Three-minute time limits will be imposed on those making comments. The Department of Environmental Quality posted this week a two-page guidance document setting forth procedures for the meetings, including the following instructions for speakers:

  • Only those persons who commented during the official public comment period (i.e., July 3, 2017 – August 22, 2017) may speak for up to 3 minutes to exercise their rights to respond to the summary of the prior proceedings including DEQ’s summary of comments received during the public comment period.
  • Speakers must register. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. A person can only register for him or herself.
  • Persons may pool their minutes to allow for a single presentation to the Board that does not exceed the time limitation of 3 minutes multiplied by the number of people pooling minutes, or 15 minutes, whichever is less.

ABRA has prepared a two-page summary on major points that should be made to the State Water Control Board. It is based on the October 25 letter sent to Board members by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Southern Environmental Law Center and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.