The June 20 news article “Biden, during California visit, seeks to shore up environmentalist support” noted that some environmentalists are upset about the administration’s role in the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Willow drilling project.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline was inserted into the unrelated debt ceiling bill, the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Agencies have now been forced to grant the ruinous project’s permits, and construction will likely soon resume. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner (both D-Va.) and Reps. Jennifer McClellan, Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, Gerald E. Connolly, Don Beyer, Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton (all D-Va.) opposed the pipeline’s inclusion in the debt bill, but now Southwest Virginia faces construction of an unneeded, harmful high-pressure fracked-gas pipeline.
Of immediate concern is the use of pipe that has been degraded by direct sunlight, in some cases for more than five years. Industry experts recommend no more than six months in direct sun. Degraded pipe means greater risk of leak or explosion. Steps must be taken to ensure safety for those along the route and within the blast zone before and during construction. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Materials Administration should require off-site recoating and third-party inspection and testing of pipe before pipeline construction commences.
Southwest Virginia should not be a sacrifice zone.
The writer is the Virginia field coordinator for Appalachian Voices.
