ROANOKE – Mountain Valley Pipeline crews may have violated civil and criminal laws by continuing construction after a permit was suspended, according to two Roanoke attorneys who have asked for a federal investigation.
Environmental attorneys Charlie Williams and Tom Bondurant with Gentry and Locke in Roanoke represent Preserve Bent Mountain, a group which opposes the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Bondurant said the group conducted its own investigation and as “substantial body of evidence” that they believe proves pipeline crews were working when they shouldn’t have been.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline's stream-crossing permit was suspended last October by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
According to a weekslong investigation by members of Preserve Bent Mountain, the work around streams and area wetlands continued, and they claim to have the evidence to prove it. That information was handed over to the Environmental Protection Agency. Bondurant said his office wrote a formal letter that was sent on Nov. 26 to the EPA. which requests a federal criminal investigation.
Bondurant said that information and complaints filed by private landowners and other anti-pipeline groups over the past four years with FERQ and the DEQ have laid a strong backdrop for their request.
In Franklin County, the site of a mudslide near an MVP site appeared to have no pipeline workers, Wednesday, as was the case at another site just miles down the road.
10 News reached out to MVP regarding sites that are currently operational and a response to these recent allegations. A spokeswoman said they could not comment, but provided a brief statement.
"We are unable to provide comment regarding an ongoing enforcement matter and; therefore cannot provide additional information regarding the allegations at this time."
The work Mountain Valley Pipeline workers allegedly did that's now being called into question involves at least six work sites in southwest Virginia.