On May 23, 2024 Wild Virginia and allied groups held an online program to discuss the status of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and actions groups and individuals may take in the coming months to protect communities and the environment from further damage caused by the project.

In early May, the Mountain Valley Pipeline initially aimed for an official in-service date of June 1. This is far ahead of its original in service date of 2018… 6 years ago. However, due to a series of setbacks throughout the last month, the group has postponed this date once more, now targeting an early June launch. In a correspondence addressed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, MVP officials attributed this delay to the extended construction period necessary to finalize welding activities on the project. They reported that fewer than ten welds remain outstanding for the mechanical completion of the pipeline. Concurrently, Mountain Valley is actively engaged in concluding all requisite testing, cleaning, drying procedures, and tie-ins essential for the pipeline’s overall completion. We discuss this on the podcast.

Russell Chisholm serves as Co-Director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage Rights (POWHR) coalition in the campaign to stop the MVP. “The reality is very different from what is being portrayed,” he says about the project.

Other speakers on this podcast include West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Appalachian Voices, 7 Directions of Service, and Wild Virginia Conservation Director, David Sligh.

As of the latest updates, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project has faced a series of hurdles and delays, both legal and environmental. This natural gas pipeline, designed to stretch approximately 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, has been under intense scrutiny since its inception. Environmental groups and local communities have raised concerns about the potential impacts on water quality, forest ecosystems, and endangered species. These concerns have led to numerous legal challenges and halted construction several times.

The opposition remains steadfast, often resulting in ongoing court battles and regulatory reviews. As of now, the project is still not complete, and construction has been sporadic, often dictated by the latest court rulings and regulatory decisions.