MVP sediment pollution in Braxton County, WV
From the Allegheny – Blue Ridge Alliance ABRA Update #241 – 8/16/2019
Impacted landowners, concerned citizens, and trained volunteer monitors participated in a “VioBlitz” over the August 9-11 weekend.
Sponsored by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, an ABRA member and a partner in the ABRA CSI program (Compliance Surveillance Initiative), participants traveled portions of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and documented as many permit violations as possible over a 3-day period.
Volunteers reported approximately 100 potential violations to regulatory agencies across the West Virginia and Virginia, with more than 60 occurring in West Virginia alone. Although responsible state regulatory agencies insist that they have adequate enforcement capacity, there is currently only one dedicated pipeline inspector for the entire state of WV.
It took a dozen volunteer monitors hundreds of hours over three days to trace the route through Monroe, Summers, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Webster, Braxton, Lewis, and Harrison counties. The continued pattern of repeated violations and impacts on water resources calls into question the quality, safety and reliability of MVP construction.
For the health and safety of affected communities and environment, citizen monitors and organizations are calling for the regulatory agencies to immediately issue a stop-work order on the project.
UPPER PHOTO — Heavy runoff laden with sediment overwhelms Mountain Valley Pipeline’s sediment and erosion control barriers, making its way into Oil Creek in Braxton County, WV.
LOWER PHOTO — MVP fails to control sediment and sediment-laden water from leaving their access road impacting Barbecue Run which flows into Knawl Creek, a tributary of Burnsville Lake, Braxton County, WV.
Water pollution on MVP in geographic center of WV
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