The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is recommending water crossings along the Mountain Valley Pipeline route not receive permitting to continue.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants the Army Corps of Engineers to refuse to issue water crossing permits along the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Those permits would allow digging and blasting through hundreds of water bodies in Virginia and West Virginia says David Sligh, with the environmental advocacy group, Wild Virginia.
“These water bodies, the Greenbrier River, they are all really significant river basins. And if you do not protect the upper reaches of those streams, it’s like you're cutting off the arteries, in your fingers, and your toes, which has an effect on the rest of your body," he explains. "And what EPA is explaining here, is that you may be causing serious problems that can have long lasting and far-reaching effects.”
EPA cites potential damage to watersheds in the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s path as the reason the Army Corps of Engineers should not grant permits to cross the watersheds. It contends this would cause ‘significant degradation of the waters.’
In a statement EPA concludes, the project may not comply with current guidelines. And it is recommending modifications to the permit application, to address these and other concerns.
However, at this time, EPA is recommending the permit not be given until these and other issues are addressed.
