West Virginia DEP Approves Stormwater Permit for Mountaineer Gas Pipeline

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection announced today, Wednesday, February 7, that the agency has approved a stormwater discharge permit for work associated with the construction of a 23-mile natural gas pipeline in Morgan and Berkeley counties by Mountaineer Gas.

DEP spokesman Jacob Glance issued a press release on the decision shortly after noon.

Glance said the permit related to the discharge of stormwater "associated with the disturbance of 191.7 acres of land for construction of the project."

The Mountaineer Gas Company Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project was the subject of a public hearing in Berkeley Springs in January. All who gave testimony before the DEP at the hearing asked for the stormwater permit to be denied. Their reasons ranged from concerns about sediment and contamination of Sleepy Creek and Back Creek waterways to worries that porous underground geology would allow construction runoff to reach private water wells that serve homes and farms along the pipeline path.

According to the DEP, the stormwater permit "gives WVDEP wide ranging inspection and enforcement authority. The pipeline construction stormwater permit allows WVDEP and its enforcement officers to oversee construction activity along the full route of the pipeline including water crossings, uplands, and every other part of the impacted surface through which the pipeline crosses."

Federal energy regulators have not yet issued a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity for a connector gas pipeline that would supply the West Virginia project with natural gas. That 3.4-mile gas pipeline is expected to run from an existing gas transmission line in Fulton County, Pa. to northern Morgan County, where it would feed the new 23-mile Mountaineer Gas line. Late last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released an Environmental Assessment on the 3.4-mile connector line, saying construction of the line across the Hancock area and under the Potomac River wouldn't make a "significant" impact on the environment.

Opposition to the pipeline project has been sustained in the region, with residents saying the construction of the line is not needed for any public benefit and poses a risk to the health of the Potomac River and water resources.

Elected officials in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia have publicly supported the gas project, saying it is necessary to fuel economic growth in Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson counties.

 Courtesy: www.morganmessenger.com