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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Gov. Jim Justice’s Straight Fork Surface Mine again facing possible permit revocation

aerial image of mine

Updated Jan. 20, 2022: On Jan. 13, Virginia Energy sent a letter to A&G Coal Corporation suspending the permit for the Straight Fork Surface Mine after the corporation failed to respond to the Dec. 8, 2021 show cause order. The permit suspension gives the Justice company until Feb. 14 to deal with the ongoing violations. Failure to do so will then trigger permit revocation and a determination of bond forfeiture.

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Member-owners join together to support transparency and governance reforms for Virginia’s rural electric cooperatives

Richmond, Va. — A coalition representing member-owners of Virginia’s rural electric cooperative (RECs) is rallying in support of Del. Wendy Gooditis’ legislation that seeks to establish protections and safeguards for customers (member-owners) of the thirteen rural electric cooperatives in the state. These reforms would include allowing member-owners to observe board meetings, voter integrity measures for cooperative board elections, and transparency in cooperative political lobbying.

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