Comments were filed April 15 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging that the agency require the Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC file a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement before passing judgment on the company’s March 16 request for authority to change the method by which the Mountain Valley Pipeline project would cross 182 waterbodies from a dry open-cut method to one of several trenchless methods. The filing, which was made by Appalachian Mountain Advocates. National Resources Defense Council and Southern Environmental Law Center (all ABRA members), on behalf of a cross section of conservation groups, including ABRA, stated:
The actions for which Mountain Valley has requested authorization pose serious environmental risks that were not disclosed in the 2017 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on which the certificate of public convenience and necessity for the MVP relies, nor in the Commission’s more recent Environmental Assessment for the similar, now withdrawn, amendment application in FERC Docket No. CP21-12. And neither Mountain Valley’s new Amendment Application nor its supplemental materials provide adequate information to allow the Commission to fully and rationally assess the impacts of its proposed activities. Accordingly, FERC cannot grant Mountain Valley’s application until it has collected substantial additional information necessary to evaluate the impacts of Mountain Valley’s proposal and put that evaluation out for public review and comment in a Supplemental EIS.
The comments noted that a supplemental EIS is required where there remains major Federal action to occur, and there is new information to show that the remaining action will affect the quality of the human environment in a significant manner or to a significant extent not already considered.
For a copy of the comments, click here.