The time is right for the Biden Administration to permanently stop work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) by revoking all of its permits. This would be consistent with policy since the Keystone XL permit was recently revoked. President Biden stated that “leaving…the permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.” These imperatives would also be true for the MVP, a 375 mile pipeline to transport fracked gas from West Virginia across Appalachia and the Blue Ridge Mountains to North Carolina. A 42” fracked gas pipeline has never been built over mountainous terrain. Along its path it would jeopardize hundreds of streams, drinking water sources, the climate, local communities, Native artifacts such as burial mounds, and endangered species such as the Roanoke Logperch and Candy Darter.

These are the four main reasons MVP should be stopped:

#1 MVP is a Climate Bomb that would jeopardize the Biden Administration’s climate imperatives
The estimated greenhouse gas emissions from MVP that would be equal to almost 89 million metric tons annually equal to average emissions from 26 U.S. coal plants or over 19 million vehicles. The National Resources Governance Institute recently reported that state fossil fuel companies plan to invest $1.9 trillion in projects over the next decade, making it impossible for the U.S. to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement. It is clear that the Biden Administration will need to stop projects like MVP from going forward in order to comply with the agreement.

#2 The gas from this dirty fossil fuel project is not needed
The MVP was due to be completed two years ago; its lack of operation has caused no negative impacts to the region's energy supply.

#3 MVP is an environmental disaster impacting rural communities
MVP has been assessed more than $2 million in fines for over 300 violations of Virginia law, with more violations continuing to be reported.  Due to the numerous violations, MVP has been unable to secure certificates for crossing water bodies from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality has numerous concerns about MVP’s impact on water; they have refused to grant water quality permits for MVP’s Southgate Extension.

Additional environmental concerns are:

• the pipeline’s path through the Jefferson National Forest is on extremely steep slopes that are also earthquake prone with potential for explosions
• the pipeline goes directly through the small town of Newport disrupting and endangering the lives of the entire     community
• farmers lives have been upended due to their land being ruined due to flooding
• indigenous people in North Carolina will not only be dealing with damages to their water and land but also remaining Native artifacts and burial mounds will be destroyed by construction

#4 MVP is an economic disaster  
MVP’s original costs were estimated to be $3.5 billion in 2018; the costs now have ballooned to $6.2 billion. When costs reached $4.6 billion, MVP became the most expensive pipeline in the U.S. on a cost per mile basis. While MVP claims to have completed 92% of the project, maps of completed segments show only 50% of the entire project has been completed.

Added to the above, the cost of gas will increase for customers; for example, although Roanoke Gas only has a .5% interest in MVP, they signed a contract paying MVP $112 million over 20 years regardless of how much gas is used. The gas company expects to pass this cost on to its customers even though existing gas pipelines provide gas at lower costs.