Despite New Approval, Mountain Valley Pipeline Has Miles to Go

Fracked Gas Project Gets a New Biological Opinion, But Significant Hurdles Remain
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a new [Biological Opinion] for the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The 303-mile project is stalled while awaiting necessary authorizations, including from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management. Per the requirements of its original certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), MVP should not be allowed to begin construction until it receives all required federal authorizations.

Industry watchers are growing increasingly skeptical of MVP’s future after a similar fracked gas pipeline, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, was cancelled this month as a result of similar permitting and legal challenges facing MVP.

In response, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Senior Campaign Representative Joan Walker released the following statement:

"This dirty, dangerous fracked gas project is years behind schedule, billions of dollars over budget, and was sued by the Commonwealth of Virginia for violating commonsense environmental protections hundreds of times. MVP has shown they can’t be trusted to build this pipeline anyway, and they should wise up and walk away from this risky bet like Duke and Dominion did with the ACP.”

 

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.