A dozen members of the Virginia House of Delegates and two state Senators wrote Governor Northam on July 26 urging him “to direct the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to revoke and decertify the 401 certifications for both upland areas and for the Nationwide Permit 12, which would trigger a comprehensive stream-by-stream analysis under Clean Water Act Section 401” Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Continuing, the letter asks that “all construction activities for these two projects until those analyses are complete. Stream-by-stream analyses is a commonsense solution that environmental experts agree is the appropriate process for these circumstances.”
The legislators also expressed concern over the failure to date of the Governor to appoint or reappoint two members of the seven-member State Water Control Board whose terms expired on June 30, particularly given the scheduled meeting of the Board on August 21. Finally, the legislator’s letter voiced concern over the negative impact that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would have on the “historic African American freedmen property in Union Hill” in Buckingham County.
The state senators signing the letter were Senator Creigh Deeds and Senator Chap Petersen. The Members of the House of Delegates signing the letter were Mark Keam, Kenneth Plum, Patrick Hope, Alfonzo Lopez, Mark Levine, Kaye Kory, Sam Rasoul, Chris Hurst, Elizabeth Guzman, Lee Carter, Jennifer Foy and Danica Roem.