By: Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR)
Richmond, VA – Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a decision that vacates prior decisions made by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Today’s decision rules that the Mountain Valley Pipeline cannot cross the Jefferson National Forest in Montgomery and Giles County, Virginia and Monroe County, West Virginia. The court concluded that the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management inadequately considered MVP’s sedimentation and erosion impacts, prematurely allowed MVP to use the conventional bore method for stream crossings, and failed to comply with the Forest Service’s 2012 Planning Rule.
In response, Russell Chisholm, Co-Chair of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition, said: “This decision confirms what those of us on the ground have been saying for years: MVP has caused irreparable harm to our land and must be stopped from imposing further destruction. This is a big hit in the impending downfall of the Mountain Valley Pipeline project. This decision will lead to significant delays in the construction of MVP during which our movement will ensure that this pipeline is stopped. If MVP is unfit for the protected Jefferson National Forest, it is unfit for our waters, our land, and our communities, full stop.”
