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Mountain Valley Pipeline gets final approval to begin operations
The Mountain Valley Pipeline was authorized Tuesday to begin operations, the final step in a bitter, decade-long battle between natural gas advocates and opponents. Approval of the deeply controversial project was granted in a one-page letter released shortly after 5 p.m. by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “We find that Mountain Valley has adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction and that restoration and stabilization of the construction work area is proceeding satisfactorily,” Terry Turpin, director of the commission’s Office of Energy Projects, wrote in the letter.
Russell board rejects landfill host agreement
The Russell County Board of Supervisors emerged from a closed session Monday night and unanimously rejected a proposed agreement that could have led to a landfill being established on a former coal site. Board members voted 7-0 to approve a resolution to terminate negotiations with NOVA, Inc., on its plans to establish a private landfill on the Moss 3 site. ... The 7-0 vote prompted loud cheering from a large crowd gathered inside the county Government Center, a video recording of the meeting shows. The proposed landfill has faced stiff public opposition for many months.
York County cuts ties with right-wing school board group over alleged threat of member before vote
York County has prohibited any future business ties with a right-wing school board organization after the group threatened a school board member ahead of a major recent vote, according to a letter obtained by WAVY News 10. The letter, which is posted online, is addressed to School Board Member Alliance (SBMA) Chairwoman Sherri Story. York County Purchasing Agent Jan Dudley wrote the letter. In it, she said the SBMA “demonstrated a lack of moral and business integrity” when the “leadership of the SBMA” pressed now Board Chair Kimberly Goodwin to vote to keep former Chair Lynda Fairman in that position.
Mountain Valley Pipeline approved for operation
Federal regulators on Tuesday gave the Mountain Valley Pipeline the green light to begin operating, a decade after the controversial natural gas project was first announced. In a letter to the pipeline’s joint venture company, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission official said the authorization was based on recent construction status reports, a staff inspection last month and communication with the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Salaries for Portsmouth mayor, council members will nearly double in 2025
Portsmouth City Council members voted to go forward with pay raises. The boost will nearly double the salaries of the mayor and council members next year. Roughly a dozen residents shared their thoughts on the pay raise at a public hearing Tuesday night. The topic divided the people who took to the podium.
Prince William County supervisors mull hiring panhandlers to pick up roadside litter
Prince William County officials took a first look Tuesday at a plan to address panhandling through a part-time employment program and an effort to encourage residents to give to local nonprofits rather than directly to people asking for cash at busy intersections. The proposed program would pay panhandlers $13 an hour to pick up roadside litter. Participants could work two three-hour shifts a week, allowing them to earn up to $78 a week.
Fairfax County Public Schools workers vote to unionize
Fairfax County Public Schools teachers and other workers have elected a union to represent them in forthcoming labor contract negotiations. The Fairfax Education Unions (FEU), a team-up of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT) and the Fairfax Education Association (FEA), announced yesterday (Monday) that it will represent over 27,500 FCPS employees in their first collective bargaining effort since they secured that right in March 2023. The elections, which began on June 3 and involved separate votes by instructional and operational workers, resulted in the unionization of Virginia’s largest public school system and represented the largest successful public-sector collective bargaining campaign in the U.S. in 25 years, according to FEU.
Educators, staff in Fairfax County Schools back collective bargaining
Teachers and staff members in Fairfax County, home to Virginia’s largest school district, are a step closer to being able to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for the first time in nearly 50 years. School employees overwhelmingly voted in favor of collective bargaining on Monday, with the Fairfax Education Association and the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers coming together under an alliance group, the Fairfax Education Unions, that will represent more than 27,000 school system employees in labor talks.
Educators union blames Petersburg School Board ‘interference’ for interim superintendent’s departure
The local educators’ union does not appear to buy claims by outgoing interim school superintendent Dr. John Farrelly that his upcoming departure is an “opportunity” for career growth. Instead, the Petersburg Education Association is blaming the School Board, saying it interferes too much with the day-to-day operations of Petersburg City Public Schools to the detriment of the futures of students and teachers.
Operations of the hotly contested East Coast natural gas pipeline can begin, regulators say
A hotly contested East Coast natural gas pipeline was given the go-ahead Tuesday to start operating, six years after construction began at more than double its original estimated cost. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the 303-mile (500-kilometer) Mountain Valley Pipeline project across rugged mountainsides in West Virginia and Virginia over longstanding objections from environmental groups, landowners and some elected officials. Project developers told regulators on Monday that the pipeline was complete.