Community concerns over safety and the environment continue to grow as the Mountain Valley Pipeline nears completion.
The project began nearly a decade ago and has since faced numerous delays.
10 News talked with people around the area who have kept a close eye on the MVP since the beginning.
“Right from the beginning it’s been a nightmare,” Tim Horton, a Giles County resident said.
The nightmare Horton is referring to, is the over 300-mile-long Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project that’s faced opposition from landowners over property rights and environmental concerns and many setbacks since its first formal application in 2015.
We have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request for a recent report given by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — we are still waiting for those documents, but we did receive a statement from Mountain Valley Pipeline:
As stated in the second quarter report from PHMSA, testing and surveys are done, which are then followed by excavations to validate the data, conduct any further analysis, and remediate, as needed. These are standard commissioning readiness procedures and are necessary to ensure the integrity of the pipeline prior to placing it in-service. The information in this report underscores the importance of the comprehensive testing that Mountain Valley has committed to perform prior to entering the MVP into service. It is disappointing but not surprising to see opponents mischaracterize this data to advance their own agenda, which is to delay the American public from greater access to more affordable, reliable and clean energy.
Mountain Valley continues to work closely with state and federal regulators and looks forward to satisfying all requirements, including the conditions of PHMSA’s consent order, in order to bring this critical energy infrastructure project into service. More than 300,000 miles of interstate and intrastate natural gas transmission pipelines currently operate across the U.S., and the MVP will soon be a part of this vital network that provides the fuel necessary to power modern life. The safe and responsible construction and operation of this project remains our No. 1 priority.
Mountain Valley Pipeline
“It is discouraging, the possibility of damaging the ecology and people’s property, I mean that’s not a secret, but it’s a done deal so it’s sad and it’s discouraging,” Chris Sokol, a Giles County resident said.
People we talked with say even when the pipeline is operational, that doesn’t stop them from worrying.
“There’s a lot of people who are going to be watching it very closely, and it will continue to be a worry, especially the people who have it going through their property,” Sokol said.
Setback after setbacks, people in the area know that the pipeline is a done deal, and hope that it is safe when it starts running.