A plan to stem the dirty water that will flow from building a natural gas pipeline through Southwest Virginia was approved Monday by state environmental regulators, marking a key step forward for the controversial project.
Erosion, sediment and storm water control plans for the Mountain Valley Pipeline “will protect water quality in all areas of Virginia,” the state’s Department of Environmental Quality announced in a 7:02 p.m. news release.
Until now, work on the 303-mile buried pipeline has been limited to cutting trees along its path and leaving them where they fell. With DEQ’s approval of “land disturbing activities” — one of the last remaining regulatory reviews — Mountain Valley is now authorized to begin full-scale construction.
