Wild Virginia has sent the Forest Service a letter objecting to an outrageous order closing portions of the Jefferson National Forest for many months. In the letter to Joby Timm, Forest Supervisor of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, Wild Virginia asserts the scope of the Emergency Closure order now in place far exceeds temporal… Read more
Wild Virginia offers the following to help citizens begin to frame their comments in response to DEQ’s public notice. We plan to provide additional help, including some examples of comments we develop for some specific stream crossing areas. We welcome any comments, questions, or examples of issues you plan to raise in comments but don’t… Read more
Wild Virginia has learned, through a March 24, 2018 email from Forest Supervisor Joby Timm of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, that the U.S. Forest Service issued two revised Emergency Closure Orders for areas of the Jefferson National Forest, covering two roads and the proposed path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). New… Read more
Wild Virginia wrote Jobi Timm, Forest Supervisor for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests today, calling on him to clarify provisions in an Emergency Closure Order for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Wild Virginia seeks assurances that any restrictions on the people’s use of our public lands will be strictly limited and clearly defined. The… Read more
By David Sligh, Conservation Director, Wild Virginia Let Your Voice Be Heard! Our new Governor has the authority and duty to protect our waters and communities from the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines. Governor Northam must uphold the principles he has supported for many months and we ask that you let him know that you… Read more
by David Sligh for Wild Virginia and the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition After the Virginia State Water Control Board (Board) decisions about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) uncertainties and confusion remain. We thought we’d give you our best explanation as to what happened and what might come next. Before… Read more
Guest Post by our partners at the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA) A response to objections raised to the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) Draft Record of Decision (ROD) about whether the proposed amendments to the Forest Plans of the Monongahela and George Washington National Forests to accommodate the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) has been issued by the… Read more
The House yesterday passed The “Resilient Federal Forests Act,” H.R. 2936 encouraging and allowing more logging on national forests framed as a way to curtail wildfires. The vote was 232-188. The Virginia delegation voted in a straight party line with all Republicans (Whitman, Taylor, Garrett, Goodlatte, Griffith, Brat and Comstock) voting in favor of the… Read more
by Susannah Gilmore The H.R. 2936 “Westerman Bill” has just entered the process of amendment and discussion in Congress. Proposed last June, it seeks to “improve forest management” by essentially allowing industry to bypass environmental assessment as mandated in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 in order to expedite industrial progress. The bill… Read more
We are very disappointed in yesterday’s decision by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) to decline to defend easements on 13 Virginia properties and approve a conversion that will allow the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines to violate standing conservation easement agreements with VOF. We cannot emphasize how important conservation and trust agreements are in protecting… Read more