Tell FERC: Do Not Accept U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s Decision

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Ryan Hagerty of the U.S.Forest Service

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service claims that five endangered and threatened species on the MVP’s route will not be significantly threatened by construction. Science and impacted community members disagree.

The Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is not adequate. Tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject it!

After rushing to publish the Biological Opinion on Day 1 of a 45 day period, the USFWS admitted many filings submitted within the window of consultation were not considered in their decision, and that FERC needs to assess whether those materials may require reopening Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultation. This is part of a long trend of the USFWS rushing decisions and not adequately listening to impacted community members.

Tell FERC that the USFWS Biological Opinion is not adequate, and FERC must not accept it!

FERC must not allow any construction to proceed until MVP has all three federal authorizations that it is currently missing in place.

Mountain Valley Pipeline is uniquely risky, has devastated impacted communities, accrued hundreds of environmental violations, damaged Indigenous cultural and sacred sites, and would be a climate disruption nightmare.


To: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
From: [Your Name]

We respectfully ask FERC not to accept the Biological Opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on February 28, and ask that FERC publicly and expressly declare that forward construction activities cannot occur at any location along the entire project route until Mountain Valley has received all of its required authorizations.

The Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) has admitted it declined to consider filings which were received during the consultation period. Consequently, the Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement were created without consideration of new and pertinent information bearing on the project’s impacts on imperiled species and their habitat.

In the letter accompanying their Biological Opinion and Incidental Take statement, FWS wrote that “FERC and the other action agencies will need to assess whether the materials contain any new information that might prevent them from relying on this Opinion to meet their obligations under Section 7 of the ESA.” This position was reiterated in a letter sent directly to FERC on March 3, which raised that Fish and Wildlife Service must assess whether reinitiation of consultation is necessary.

We ask that FERC reject the Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement, and request that consultation be reinitiated.

Additionally, we ask that FERC publicly and expressly communicate that forward construction activities cannot resume anywhere along the entire project route until Mountain Valley has received all of its required federal authorizations–including United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorization. As stated in the original Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, Mountain Valley “must obtain all necessary federal and state permits and authorizations, including the water quality certifications, prior to receiving Commission authorization to commence construction.” Given the controversy over this Project, public confirmation that those guidelines will be followed is essential.

We also have concerns regarding the overall consultation process of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service including: the lack of community consultation, an absence of official public comment opportunity, the refusal to release an appropriately redacted updated Supplement to the Biological Assessment and the new Biological Opinion which may not have sufficiently addressed previous concerns. Additionally the 45-day window of decision available to the agency was not utilized, adding to the public perception that the agency reached its decision in a rushed manner.

In sum, we respectfully ask FERC to reject the Biological Opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on February 28, to reinitiate Endangered Species Act consultation, and to publicly and expressly communicate that forward construction activities cannot resume at any location along the entire project route until Mountain Valley has received all of its required authorizations.