The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently announced its rejection of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) efforts to extend into North Carolina.
MVP had proposed extending its 300-mile fracked gas pipeline another 75 miles through central North Carolina. The mainline section of the project has already racked up more than $2 million in fines in Virginia alone due to hundreds of alleged violations of environmental protections, and there are questions about whether MVP is accurately reporting how much of the project has been completed.
The proposed extension project, dubbed “Southgate,” has been controversial since it was announced and there was never any evidence it was necessary.
The announcement comes just weeks after Duke and Dominion Energy cancelled their 600-mile, $8 billion fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline, leading to speculation that major fossil fuel pipelines were becoming “almost impossible to build.”
In response, Sierra Club Senior Campaign Representative for the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Joan Walker released the following statement:
“This announcement is further evidence that the era of fracked gas pipelines is over,” says Joan. “We applaud the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for prioritizing North Carolina’s clean water over corporate polluters’ profits. Dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipelines like Mountain Valley threaten the health of our people, climate, and communities, and aren’t even necessary at a time when clean, renewable energy sources are affordable and abundant.”
Prepared by the Sierra Club.