In yet another significant blow to MVP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signals stream crossing permit will be indefinitely delayed

pipeline-construction

CONTACT: Dan Radmacher, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org Morgan Caplan, (443) 986-1221, Morgan.Caplan@sierraclub.org Washington, DC — This week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers committed to withhold a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at least until the project has a valid Endangered Species Act biological opinion. This confirmation was received…

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Environmental groups seek to defend Virginia’s denial of air permit for MVP in court

pipes and and a tower clustered together, sunset sky

Richmond, VA — The Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, moved to intervene in a lawsuit to help defend the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board’s denial of an air permit for the proposed Lambert Compressor station. If built, the station would connect the beleaguered Mountain Valley Pipeline to the proposed “Southgate” extension into North Carolina. The conservation groups filed the motion in response to a lawsuit by the Mountain Valley Pipeline that seeks to reverse the board’s decision.

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FERC orders halt to Mountain Valley Pipeline construction

CONTACTS: Doug Jackson, Sierra Club, 202-495-3045, doug.jackson@sierraclub.org Cat McCue, Appalachian Voices, 434-293-6373, cat@appvoices.org Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity, 802-310-4054, jmargolis@biologicaldiversity.org WASHINGTON, D.C. — Late yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC to halt construction activities along the entire 303-mile route of the fracked-gas project. FERC’s order is in response…

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Petition Focuses on Va. Regulatory Failures

Appalachian Voices recently joined the Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Mountain Advocates to file a formal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging that a Virginia agency had failed to comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act since 2011.

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New Research and Lawsuits Keep Mountaintop Removal in the Spotlight

By Brian Sewell While battles over mountaintop removal permits reach their boiling point and lawsuits are filed and settled, new research revealing the environmental costs continues to pile up. In September, a study by Duke University, Kent State University and the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies compared the environmental toll of mountaintop removal to the…

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Under Pressure, Patriot Coal to Phase Out Mountaintop Removal

By Brian Sewell On Nov. 15, amid bankruptcy litigation and multiple lawsuits, Patriot Coal announced it would begin phasing out mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia as part of a settlement over selenium pollution. One of the largest operators in the region, the St. Louis-based spin-off of Peabody Energy is the first major coal operator…

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Appalachian Water Watch: Bringing Polluters to Justice, One Lawsuit at a Time

Appalachian Voices has joined the Sierra Club and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards in filing suit against A & G Coal Corporation in Virginia. The suit, represented by the environmental law firm Appalachian Mountain Advocates, alleges that A & G has been polluting Virginia’s public waterways through unpermitted discharge of selenium. The unpermitted discharge violates both…

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Seeds of Change Initiative to Improve Access to Local Food

The Boone, N.C.-based non-profit group Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture received a $1.1 million grant from Heifer USA to strengthen the local food system in what is known as the High Country region of North Carolina. The Seeds of Change Initiative is a multi-year program that will build upon the emerging local food movement to…

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