Virginia DEQ says it can’t issue permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline before December
Monday, April 5, 2021
Despite Mountain Valley developers’ hopes of completing the project by the end of 2021, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently told federal officials that it won’t be able to issue a new water quality permit for the project’s stream crossings before December, according to Virginia Mercury.
“Based on the complexity of this project and past public controversy, we cannot reasonably issue the (Virginia Water Protection) permit before December 2021 and we believe it is quite likely that we could not issue this permit until early 2022,” wrote DEQ Water Permitting Division Director Melanie Davenport in a March 25 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline had previously sought to use a blanket permit to authorize all stream crossings but changed its approach in January following legal challenges and broader uncertainty regarding the permit’s future.
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What is fracking?
Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracturing is a process by which highly pressurized fluid is pumped thousands of feet into the ground to fracture rock formations. The goal is to release the natural gas that’s locked inside the rock.
Is it safe?
What most concerns people about fracturing is ground water contamination. The worry is that fractures underground, caused by the process, will extending upwards and into aquifers, releasing gas and chemicals into the ground water supply. There’s been no confirmed reports of such a thing happening. Though surface spills and drill site blowouts can lead to localized environmental concerns.
Will my water catch on fire?
Flammable water is caused by the release of methane gas into a drinking water supply. Methane gas occurs naturally and can be released by any kind of drilling, including water wells. In Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy $1 million for contaminating ground water with methane. It was determined that the company had not properly cemented it’s boreholes and gas migrated up the well, between rock and into aquifers.