A state board responsible for protecting Virginia’s water awarded certification Thursday for the deeply controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, voting 5-2 during a meeting that ended with confusion and conflict.
With its vote, the State Water Control Board determined there was a “reasonable assurance” that construction of the natural gas pipeline will not contaminate streams and other bodies of water along its path.
Opponents counter that digging trenches for a buried steel pipe 42 inches in diameter along steep mountain slopes is a recipe for environmental disaster.
A highly technical regulatory process that began two years ago became even more dense Thursday as the board struggled to reconcile an earlier decision by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to relinquish part of the state’s review to a federal agency.
