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Pipeline Comments Still Accepted

An environmental group is calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend the comment period for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipe Line.  The deadline was this past Tuesday, June 16TH.   It’s one of several requests for more time to discuss the potential impact of several pipelines proposed for the region.

State representatives and Virginia’s U.S. Senators have made similar requests to have comment periods extended for pipeline proposed to traverse the state. Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionspokesman Craig Cano says, while the FERC does not have a response to any specific filing, written comments submitted after the June 16th deadline will be made part of the record.

The period for public comment on the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline began in October 2014. The 300-mile pipeline would run through several counties in the Virginias.  Now theBlue Ridge Environmental Defense League wants the comment period extended another 90 days and more meetings public meetings added.  Virginia Coordinator Mara Robbins, says just 6 meetings for the 17 counties was not enough.

"There are many people who couldn’t afford to travel to the public hearings because there  were so few of them and they were so far away from where they lived and there were people who could not submit a written comment."

Robbins says people reported having difficulty submitting their comments to the FERC’s websiteand that circumstances changed, creating the need for a longer comment period.

"Roanoke County, which has been on the line this entire time, had that pretty long period of time to do their research, to submit their concerns about the environmental impact, etc. A county like Craig County, which was only just put into the proposed route a few months ago, did not have nearly as much time to prepare."

Robbie Harris is based in Blacksburg, covering the New River Valley and southwestern Virginia.
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