WAYNESBORO — The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's "clarification" about water quality permits related to the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines is being fiercely criticized by a local group opposed to the projects.
DEQ on Wednesday clarified that it would rely on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' national permit for the waterways crossed by the natural gas pipelines. In April, the DEQ had said it would require individual certifications for each of the hundreds of waterway crossings along the routes of both pipelines.
The clarification means that Dominion Resources, the lead utility on the two pipelines, can use the corps' "blanket" permit, instead of having to get one for each river, stream and wetland the pipelines cross. The state says it still plans to require individual certifications for "upland" areas — such as ridgetops and hilltops — that are not covered by the corps' permit.
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Opponents say the Corps of Engineers' permit does not adequately protect the affected bodies of water, including the 189 streams and rivers and 43 wetlands crossed by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route in Augusta County.
"Like many communities along the [Atlantic Coast] pipeline route, we were relieved at the news last month that DEQ was opting to do a thorough and complete review of water impacts in Virginia,'' said Augusta County Alliance co-chair Nancy Sorrells. The group is opposed to the pipelines, both projects of Dominion Resources. "[But] we have just learned that, contrary to what was reported on April 7, DEQ will not require site-specific analysis ... to ensure that they will all comply with state water quality standards."
Sorrells said the DEQ is in essence shirking its responsibility by handing off the permitting standards to the federal government.
"It's unimaginable that Virginia is choosing to defer to the federal government its only meaningful role in the pipeline permitting process," she said. "We can only hope that DEQ will reverse course, and opt to do its job and conduct proper and thorough reviews of the wetland, stream and river crossings in order to protect our valuable water resources."
Both the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and Augusta County Service Authority have been vocal in expressing concerns about the ACP's potential damage to water resources in the county.
Sorrells said Augusta County's water resources play a key role for much of the Mid-Atlantic region. "Our water is also the headwaters of the James and Shenandoah Rivers and winds up in Washington, D.C., Richmond and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Why wouldn't DEQ want to protect our state's water to the fullest extent possible?'' Sorrells asked.
The DEQ has said a miscommunication led officials to mistakenly assert that individual certifications would be needed for each waterway crossing. But the agency says it still has a rigorous review process in place that will ensure the safety of the rivers and streams along the pipeline routes.
Dominion Resources has long insisted that the both the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines will be built to stringent quality control standards, with multiple safety features. Officials with the company also have vowed that they will leave as soft a "footprint" as possible on the land through which the pipeline will be constructed.
Opponents, though, say that "footprint" will nonetheless have a significant and irreversible impact on the environment, and has urged Dominion to instead spend more on renewable fuel investments such as solar and wind power. Property rights' groups have also taken Dominion to task for taking private property, seized by eminent domain, for some portions of the pipeline routes.