Tag: Nationwide Permit 12

Following Permit Suspension, Mountain Valley Pipeline Barred from All Water Crossings

A major natural gas pipeline under construction in West Virginia and Virginia cannot continue construction under streams, rivers and wetlands across its entire 303-mile route, following the decision late last week by a federal agency.

In a letter sent Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh District told Mountain Valley Pipeline officials they were suspending the project’s water crossings permit, also known as the Nationwide Permit 12, for Wetzel and Harrison counties. 

The decision marks the third suspension or invalidation of the project’s water crossings permits. Earlier this month, a federal court threw out the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s water crossings permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District, which covered pipeline construction through much of West Virginia.

Three days later, the Army Corps’ Norfolk District in Virginia suspended all water crossings there.

“Friday’s suspension makes clear yet again that the permits hastily given to the fracked-gas Mountain Valley Pipeline don’t stand up to scrutiny,” said Anne Havemann, general counsel at Chesapeake Climate Action Network, in a statement. “Key permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline have been thrown out again and again, confirming that this pipeline — and the similarly destructive Atlantic Coast Pipeline — is too dangerous to ever be built.”

A coalition of environmental groups that oppose the pipeline have asked federal regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a full stop-work order for all pipeline construction. They argue the invalidation of the Army Corps’ water crossings permit means the project lacks full approvals and should be temporarily stopped.

Mountain Valley Pipeline spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in a statement the project expects to receive a new or resissued water crossings permit in early 2019. After that happens, she said the pipeline expects the two suspended permits in West Virginia and Virginia to be reinstated.

Until then, Cox said the pipeline will continue other construction and does not expect the lack of water crossings to affect the pipeline’s projected in-service date of late 2019.

The Army Corps estimates the Mountain Valley Pipeline will be constructed under streams, rivers or wetlands 1,146 times, inclduing 59 stream crossings and 62 wetland crossings in Wetzel and Harrison counties.

Federal Court Throws Out Key Mountain Valley Pipeline Permit

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with environmental groups Tuesday and threw out a major federal water crossings permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Environmental advocates said the move could significantly slow down construction through much of West Virginia and is expected to affect about 160 miles of the pipeline’s route in the state.

In an order released just days after the court heard the case Friday, the court vacated the pipeline’s water-crossings permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District. The district encompasses much of the state, including the southern region, and the order affects major river crossings for the Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and Meadow rivers.

History in the Courts

The Nationwide Permit 12 allows pipeline developers to disrupt streams, rivers and wetlands during construction, while maintaining water quality standards under the federal Clean Water Act.

The court in June halted construction of the 303-mile pipeline under bodies of water, because the pipeline developer’s own documents showed they could not complete construction quickly enough to comply with the federal Army Corps permit.

In late August, hours after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decided construction could continue more broadly across the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s route, the 4th Circuit lifted its stay on water crossings in West Virginia.

‘Major Win’

But on Monday, the same court agreed with arguments made by environmental groups that the Army Corps erred when it allowed pipeline developers to use the “dry cut” method to install the pipeline through rivers and streams. That method includes damming the water source before pipeline installation and can take 4 to 6 weeks.

West Virginia environmental regulators proposed additional stipulations on the pipeline under the Nationwide Permit 12. The state requires all stream crossing be done within 72 hours.

“We conclude, for reasons to be more fully explained in a forthcoming opinion, that the Corps lacked authority to substitute the ‘dry cut’ requirement ‘in lieu of’ West Virginia’s 72-hour temporal restriction,”  the order stated.

The West Virginia DEP is currently weighing whether it should change the 72-hour special consideration for pipeline stream and river crossings.

Environmental groups called the decision a major win. In an emailed statement, Appalachian Mountain Advocates said it will “significantly impede construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for the foreseeable future.”

They said the Army Corps will likely have to do additional environmental analysis and will likely be required to issue a project-specific Clean Water Act permit or “individual” permit, rather than the more general Nationwide Permit 12.

The Nationwide Permit 12 covers all stream and wetland disruptions caused by utility line construction nationwide. It is one of about 50 broader so-called “general permits” that can be granted under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

Mountain Valley Pipeline spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in an email that developers were “disappointed” by the decision.

She said project developers are “evaluating options to understand its ability to continue with construction activities that do not include stream and wetland crossings along this portion of the route.”

Atlantic Coast Pipeline Permit Under Fire from Environmental Advocates

Environmental advocates asked a federal court Tuesday to review a federal permit for the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Appalachian Mountain Advocates, a law firm representing a coalition of environmental and citizen groups, filed a petition with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The groups, which include the Sierra Club, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Appalachian Voices and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, are asking the court to review a federal permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Nationwide Permit 12, which falls under Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act, sets out how the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) must be built through streams and wetlands in West Virginia.

In a letter sent last month to Army Corps’ Huntington District, the groups argue the pipeline developer has admitted it cannot cross parts of the Greenbrier, West Fork and Buckhannon rivers in the 72-hour time frame mandated by the permit, and thus its Nationwide Permit 12 should be revoked.

The request comes days after the 4th Circuit stayed the same permit issued to the Mountain Valley Pipeline for failing to complete construction quickly enough.

Once completed, the 600-mile, 42-inch ACP pipeline will bring natural gas from West Virginia through Virginia to North Carolina. The ACP is being jointly developed by Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Company Gas.

A spokesperson for the ACP could not be reached for comment.

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