At a meeting of the Virginia State Water Control Board on February 23, 2024, members of the public asked the Board to tell the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to enforce the law and to stop degradation of our streams, our properties, and our drinking water sources caused by Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Citizens presented new information about the damages MVP is causing, including photographs of the polluted streams.

The call followed a letter sent to DEQ Director Mike Rolband  on February 8, 2024, in which 29 organizations called on Director Rolband to use authority granted him under Virginia law to order MVP to stop work until it solves ongoing pollution impacts along the pipeline’s 100-mile route through Virginia.

The February 8 letter explained in detail how DEQ wrongly minimizes its responsibilities in public statements and in its own guidance documents and how the agency’s failure to fulfill its duties has harmed streams, landowners, and water supplies.

DEQ Director Snubs Groups Who Sought Enforcement Response

To date, Rolband has not answered that letter. “Director Rolband’s failure to respond to the public’s pleas, after two weeks, is a slap in the face, particularly to the people who are suffering directly from MVP’s abuse of the environment and our communities,” stated David Sligh, Conservation Director at Wild Virginia. “DEQ needs to explain why it has failed to even acknowledge the powers the General Assembly gave it when it strengthened the law in 2021, let alone to use those tools to protect us and the environment.”

 Russell Chisholm, Co-director of Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights said:

“Through the mismanagement of MVP permit enforcement, Virginia DEQ has set the standard for industry capture of so-called regulators. The lack of enforcement and complete disregard for community-based pollution reporting allows MVP to avoid any scrutiny or accountability. We can only hope that the State Water Control Board will not abdicate its role to represent and uplift the protection of the people where DEQ has failed to use its authority.”

The public has consistently played its role in trying to protect our environment and our rights for more than eight years, since this destructive project was first proposed. Many, including technical experts and local people most knowledgeable about the threatened areas, warned of the destruction that would surely result and those warnings have been born out. DEQ and other agencies have failed us repeatedly and we now seek some measure of support and relief from the Water Control Board.

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The State Water Control Board meeting was held on February 23, 2024 at Reynolds Community College, in the Gallery at the Community College Workforce Alliance, 1651 East Parham Road, Richmond, VA 23228.