Bill Wolf, Co-Chair Preserve Craig, Inc.
~ Dozens of organizations and citizens file against FERC ~
Preserve Craig filed a scathing brief detailing the failings of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Filed this week, it demands a review and halt to the FERC’s order. Nine other local and regional groups signed on to the 56 plus page legal motion filed by Preserve Craig’s attorneys, the Water & Power Law Group.
The Preserve Craig filing asked for a Stay or suspension of activity, such as eminent domain taking of property, while five overarching errors are answered by the government and MVP. It detailed substantive legal and policy failings that seriously risk harm to our water, forest, geological, and cultural resources. It claims that the FERC and MVP ignored, omitted, or inaccurately addressed the facts during the FERC’s reviews and approval of the project.
Preserve Craig spearheaded the filing, joined by the Newport Historic District, Preserve Bent Mountain in Roanoke, Preserve Giles County, Preserve Montgomery County VA, POWHR (the regional coalition active in 13 counties which stands for Protect Our Water Heritage Rights) and four West Virginia-based citizen groups, the Indian Creek Watershed Association, the Summers County Residents Against the Pipeline (SCRAP), Preserve Monroe, and Save Monroe.
The numerous failings are grouped under five overarching issues the FERC failed to:
1) show that the applicant (MVP) is providing a public benefit function as required by law;
2) take a thorough look at the impacts of the project, including water, geology, historic resources and the people in the area;
3) evaluate new information from MVP or issues raised by the public;
4) look seriously at alternatives;
5) show that the project avoids or minimizes damage to scenic, historic, wildlife and recreational values as required.
On Monday, November 13, the FERC website was inundated with numerous other formal filings by registered intervenors with motions to rehear the case and halt the current conditional approval.
The Craig County government joined Roanoke County and Giles County to file a thorough 52-page request. We should thank our Board of Supervisors and staff for their efforts to protect our water and way of life.
The largest was filed by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, representing 19 National and Regional organizations and several Craig County residents who live on the proposed route. This 193-page brief was also signed onto by Preserve Craig through its regional alliance group, POWHR. It includes documentation of the FERC’s failure to prove or even require proof of the need for this project, discloses the internal dealings between the owners of MVP, and calls out the unwarranted guarantee of profits that the FERC guarantees this private company.
All of these filings can be found at Preserve Craig’s eLibrary at www.preservecraig.org/eLibrary.
We’ll keep you informed on how these filings work and how the government responds. In the meantime, reviews and approvals are still pending from several other state and federal agencies, including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the US Forest Service.
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. Email: [email protected]
MVP news shorts
Duncan Adams received an excellence in journalism award from the Appalachian Trail Commission this Monday. He has written numerous in-depth articles about the Mountain Valley Pipeline over the last two and a half years. Duncan is leaving the Roanoke Times to return to Montana to work for the Montana Standard.
The largest petroleum company in the world, a Chinese power utility, agreed with the State of West Virginia to invest over $87 Billion in shale gas production and research. Some groups are expressing concern about the state and federal support for a policy to sell our mountains and energy future to foreign-controlled communist governments.
