Bill Wolf
Co-Chair Preserve Craig, Inc.
Sustaining the Quality of Life We Value
This week’s column poses some questions as part one of a series asking whether it is legal for our government to grant known criminals the right to take property for their use, profit and benefit. We’re exploring how and why a Limited Liability Company (LLC) that is not a public utility and whose managing partner has repeatedly pled guilty to environmental crimes could be granted such incredible power and authority over the people and our waters and lands.
Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is on the verge of being given the right to eminent domain to take private property from law-abiding citizens. Full approval of this project will require the complicit participation and explicit actions of at least three federal and two state agencies.
And our legislators have not been objecting to this unconstitutional and unethical concept, just the details of whether there was enough time for public comment. We do not believe any of these government agencies should ever have considered the MVP project until the applicant for such power is proven worthy of public trust consideration.
MVP is an LLC with no employees, no long-term liability, no positive track record, and no proof of public benefit. Their agents have even been arrested here in Craig County for breaking the law. You might want to consider this conundrum and talk it over with your family and friends, and even your elected officials!
In closing, here’s an excerpt from the letter that Preserve Craig submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in August about this topic:
“The purpose of this letter is to formally oppose any issuance of 401 Water Quality Certifications for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Preserve Craig does not believe the State of Virginia should even be considering this action under the circumstances and further request that no vote be taken on these certifications and …be dismissed as unacceptable on its face.
The managing partner of this LLC, EQT, is a known environmental criminal with a criminal record for intentionally polluting water and intentionally filing false applications for water permits in other states. It is this very same company that would oversee the construction of the MVP and the subsequent substantial damage to water quality along the path of the project…We understand that there have been additional prosecutions…”
Preserve Craig, Inc. is a 501C3 nonprofit volunteer public charity formed in 1991 using volunteers and donations to protect our natural, historical, and cultural resources. Tax-deductible donations are welcome online at www.preservecraig.org or by mail to: Preserve Craig, Inc., PO Box 730, New Castle, VA. 24127. Phone: 540-309-9560. Email: preservecraig@gmail.com
