State regulators outlined a strategy Friday to monitor construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which opponents fear will leave a trail of environmental damage through Southwest Virginia.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said it will dispatch a team of inspectors, augmented by outside contractors, to conduct routine audits, stream evaluations and water quality tests as part of its oversight.
Meanwhile, the agency is still reviewing erosion and sediment control plans that must be approved before full-scale construction can begin on Mountain Valley and a similar natural gas pipeline planned for Central Virginia, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
