It has been a tumultuous month for the embattled Mountain Valley Pipeline.

News at the beginning of December that the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board voted to deny an air permit for a proposed compressor station in Pittsylvania in a 6-1 vote was followed by a divided Virginia State Water Control Board 3-2 vote to approve a necessary stream crossing permit toward the middle of the month. 

The denial of the air permit was based on a determination that it did not meet ‘fair treatment’ requirements under the new Virginia Environmental Justice Act passed in 2020. A lack of suitability of the site and a 2020 decision over the siting of a compressor station in Union Hill for the cancelled ACP were also cited. From a December 3rd Virginia Mercury article. 

Approval of the stream-crossing permit for the MVP comes despite lawsuits over numerous erosion and sediment control violations. An analysis by Wild Virginia (a pipeline opponent) ‘has shown that Mountain Valley has violated environmental rules more than 1,500 times during its existence.’ Under the federal Clean Water Act, pipelines have to obtain federal and state permits that guarantee they will not significantly degrade water quality during either construction or operation. In 2018, federal approval of stream crossings were overturned and MVP opted to seek approval of crossings from Virginia. The project still needs stream-crossing authorizations from West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as an approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission allowing it to bore underneath waterways. From a December 14th Virginia Mercury article. 

A December 20 Roanoke Times article does a great job covering the saga of the MVP.