Statement by Appalachian Voices on MVP Southgate’s certificate extension request

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2023

CONTACT
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org
Jessica Sims, Virginia Field Coordinator, (804) 356-1228, jessica@appvoices.org

As anticipated, Mountain Valley Pipeline today sent the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a request for an extension of the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for its MVP Southgate project — which would run from the main pipeline’s terminus in Virginia into North Carolina.

The project, much like the mainline, has been plagued with problems from the beginning — denied permits, the taking of property and environmental justice concerns. Construction on Southgate never started, and the air permit for its Virginia compressor station was denied, along with a necessary water permit from North Carolina.

FERC granted its original Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in 2020. Now, MVP Southgate developers have asked for a three-year extension of their original certificate, despite missing necessary authorizations and recently abandoning eminent domain proceedings for the project’s route through North Carolina. Appalachian Voices is asking for people to write letters asking FERC to deny the extension request.

Statement by Virginia Field Coordinator Jessica Sims:
“This Southgate pipeline is not in the public interest and the developers have not demonstrated its viability. Its threats remain — from disproportionately impacting environmental justice communities along the pipeline route to endangering the waterways it would cross. Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate should not have a future.”