For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021
Media contact:
Lee Francis | Deputy Director
Virginia League of Conservation Voters
(434) 989-3197 | lfrancis@valcv.org
RICHMOND – Today, the State Water Control Board voted 3-2, with two members absent, to approve an incredibly flawed permit allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline to proceed with construction across water bodies in Southwest Virginia, a decision that ignores a track record including hundreds of violations of Virginia’s water quality laws, and one that flies in the face of robust public opposition.
In response to today’s decision, Lee Francis, Deputy Director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, issued the following statement:
“Throughout this project, MVP has shown no respect to Virginia’s water quality or the Virginians that live in the path of this project. Today’s vote ignores science, overlooks one of the poorest environmental track records in state history, puts an out-of-state corporation’s interests ahead of what’s right for clean water and our environment, and comes even as another state citizen board acted to do the right thing for Virginians by rejecting MVP’s license to pollute earlier this month. While this outcome is disappointing, our work fighting this project isn’t done, and there remain multiple pathways to protecting clean water even if state regulators refuse to.”
About us:
The Virginia League of Conservation Voters serves as the political voice of the state’s conservation community, working to make sure Virginia’s elected officials recognize that our natural heritage is an environmental and economic treasure for all. Virginia LCV works with conservation leaders across Virginia and strives for a conservation majority in state government. We secure good public policies on the state level and hold public officials accountable for their positions on environmental issues. For more information, visit www.valcv.org.
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