Thanks & Holiday Best Wishes to Craig County
More Good News This Week – MVP In Trouble
State Water Control Board Votes to Review MVP Permits
This Christmas Season, the good news just keeps on coming. Earlier this month we reported six victories toward protecting our precious water resources and our peaceful way of life in these beautiful mountains. This week there’s three more powerful blows to MVP.
We are especially grateful for the wonderful support from the citizens of Craig County. Thank you for your donations to help all of us. Early next year we’ll publish a list of the supporters who have generously given money and time to this cause and hope your name will be on the honor list.
- On December 13 the Virginia State Water Control Board voted to start the process of revoking the 401-permit granted to MVP a year ago under the false assurance that the project would not harm Virginia’s waters. A week earlier our Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring suing MVP for damage to the state’s waters. Both actions are tied to the hundreds of documented incidents of serious damage to our streams, springs, and land.
- Also on December 13, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a dramatic 60-page opinion, rebuked the US Forest Service for disregard of its own rules and mission, and revoked permits previously issued for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The ruling reinforces a similar decision made against the Forest Service and the Department of Interior vacating the illegal permits issued to MVP.
- On Dec 18 Preserve Craig’s legal team and allies filed a compelling brief asking the DC Appeals Court to revoke MVP’s permit from the FERC that grants eminent domain rights to take private land. That permit was also built on false data submitted by MVP. We are finally being allowed to challenge the permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and demand that it be revoked. I and had originally required that all federal and state permits be in place, which is no longer the case.
Both the stock of EQT and its spin-off Equitrans Midstream (ETRN), the companies that manage MVP, continue to lose value and spiral downward. An internal fight for control of the companies is raging and recent filings admit that the pipeline may never get built.
In smaller victories, Franklin County tabled MVP’s newest permit request, formal filings against MVP to the FERC document that MVP is violating FERC’s rules such as construction at night, and two Craig County citizens filed massive lawsuits against MVP for false arrest.
Preserve Craig continues to oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline, even though construction has started. This project is harming our water, mountains and community – and is just plain wrong. Taking land from our citizens by granting eminent domain authority to an out-of-state company for their private gain must be stopped, or we’ll see similar projects harming this special place. Craig County deserves clean water and a healthy environment for generations to come.
Again, thanks for helping us to fight corporate greed at the expense of our drinking water and environment. Your tax-deductible donations are helping us win!