Protect Our Water: Deny MVP Southgate’s Water Quality Certification

Deny the Water Quality Certification for MVP Southgate: ID# 20181638 and Version 4

Dear NCDEQ Secretary Wilson, I am writing to ask that you protect our water and deny MVP Southgate’s 401 Water Quality Certification. If permitted and built, MVP Southgate would impact fifty water bodies in North Carolina, including the Dan River, Cascade Creek, and thirty-six wetlands. The Dan River serves as a drinking water source in North Carolina, and Southgate would cross the river and several of its tributaries, which could impact the river’s quality and threaten access to clean drinking water. The Dan River is also home to several federally protected mussels, including the endangered James spinymussel, the threatened Atlantic Pigtoe and its critical habitat, and the potentially threatened Green Floater and its critical habitat. Cascade Creek also provides suitable habitat for the Roanoke logperch, which was devastated by the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill and was just removed from the Endangered Species List. Mountain Valley’s record of water impacts is alarming. During construction of the MVP Mainline, one report that reviewed inspection reports found that “94% of water crossings did not maintain their biological condition following construction.” Further, nearly the entire proposed route for MVP Southgate is within ½ mile of the proposed route for Transco’s Southeast Supply Enhancement Project, another large, high-pressure methane gas pipeline. The construction of two new pipelines near one another will exacerbate negative impacts to water quality in rivers and wetlands. You have denied water quality certificates to these dangerous projects before. I am now asking you to protect North Carolinians and do it again. Deny this 401 Water Quality Certification for MVP Southgate. Thank you,