The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) will hold a public hearing on August 12 to gather comments regarding Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC’s application for a 401 water quality certification. The certification is related to the proposed construction of a 5.2-mile segment of high-pressure, steel natural gas transmission pipeline in Rockingham County.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Eden City Hall Council Chambers, with sign-in and speaker registration beginning at 5:30 p.m. The project involves building a 30-inch diameter pipeline between Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and Rockingham County, North Carolina, with approximately 5.2 miles located within North Carolina.
According to the application, the construction would result in permanent impacts to 52 linear feet of jurisdictional intermittent streams and temporary impacts to 722 linear feet of jurisdictional streams as well as nearly three acres of wetlands.
Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, state certifications are required for federally permitted activities that may discharge into navigable waters. The DWR review will determine if the proposal meets state water quality standards and whether impacts to surface waters or wetlands have been avoided or minimized.
The applicant states that the pipeline aims to provide natural gas in response to specific requests from Enbridge Gas North Carolina and Duke Energy Carolinas due to increasing supply and resiliency needs.
“The purpose of the public hearing is to allow the public to submit verbal and/or written comments regarding the 401 water quality certification application. DWR is unable to guarantee that there will be enough time to hear comments from all people who register to speak.”
Members of the public can also submit written comments by mail or email until September 12 at 5 p.m., using project number 20181638; version 4 through this link: Public commentlink. Written submissions may also be sent by mail addressed to Sue Homewood, 401 Permitting, at the Raleigh office.
Additional information about the application and related materials can be accessed online via Permitfile.
