Roanoke County forwards BREDL’s request to DEQ for revision of stormwater plans prior to further construction of MVP in Virginia

 We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Link to Fall 2020 edition: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Fall2020.pdf

~By Ann Rogers

On October 6, Roanoke County forwarded to Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) a request from BREDL and 49 residents of Roanoke County and neighboring communities to require Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP, LLC) to revise the Project Specific Standards and Specifications for Virginia (Standards), the Erosion and Sediment Control Plans (ESC Plans), and the Stormwater Management Plans (SWM Plans) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, prior to any further pipeline construction in Virginia.

The letter from BREDL and 49 co-signers states: “In an effort to prevent construction of the MVP from damaging the headwater streams of the South Fork of the Roanoke River in Bent Mountain, and in an effort to prevent sedimentation from damaging the Roanoke River and many other waterways downstream of those Bent Mountain headwaters, the requested revision should include:

· Correction of MVP, LLC’s flawed calculations, as described in this letter, that have resulted in under-reporting of peak stormwater discharge and employment of inadequate sediment barriers and techniques

· Recognition of the presence of a high concentration of ground-water in the Roanoke County portion of the MVP project area, as detailed in Roanoke County’s LiDAR mapping, and consideration of how this groundwater is anticipated to be transferred to the surface during pipeline construction, where it will contribute significantly to stormwater runoff

· Recognition of the risk of pipeline explosion in Roanoke County due to the high volume of groundwater in steep and rocky terrain, which may lead to subsurface flows and earth movement in the pipeline corridor

· Plans for utilization of the highest-capacity, highest quality sediment barriers at every MVP construction site, as based on correct calculation of peak stormwater runoff

· Consideration of the hundreds of variance requests for the MVP approved by FERC that are not addressed in the 2017 or 2020 Standards, ESC Plans, or SWM Plans, including variance request H-21 which alters the method of crossing the Roanoke River just upstream of the Spring Hollow Reservoir Intake

·   A public comment period and public hearings in each MVP-affected community in response to the corrections to stormwater calculations for the MVP as requested in this letter.”

The letter identifies a flawed assumption that is pervasive throughout MVP, LLC’s calculation of stormwater runoff from MVP construction areas, which results in employment of ineffective stormwater management protocols and equipment. MVP’s calculations use the condition of the pipeline corridor after the vegetation has been successfully restored as the basis for calculation of the stormwater runoff immediately following pipeline construction. In other words, soil condition that would occur after a period of successful re-vegetation is used in MVP, LLC’s stormwater runoff calculations as a substitute for actual soil condition immediately following pipeline construction.

As described in BREDL’s letter, this substitution is strongly associated with failure of MVP, LLC’s erosion and sediment control activities throughout the period of pipeline construction from May 21 through November 15, 2018 that resulted in detrimental impacts to soils, streams, and wetlands as documented in the DEQ and State Water Control Board Complaint against MVP issued December 7, 2018. MVP was fined $2,150,000 for these water quality violations in a Consent Decree signed on October 23, 2019.

 

 

LEAGUE LINE DIRECTOR’S REPORT: BREDL’s approach to community organizing

 We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Link to Fall 2020 edition: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Fall2020.pdf

~Louis A. Zeller, Executive Director

“Making the Southeast better, one community at a time” is what our website states on the opening page.  More than aspiration, the statement embodies BREDL’s approach to community organizing; it is based on our founding principles. From the beginning, BREDL established chapters, or local task forces, based on the recognition—by Bernard Goss, Janet Marsh and other members of the founding board—that a community targeted for one environmental insult will sooner or later face another.  In the 1980s, it was a radioactive waste dump for the nation’s nuclear power plants. In the 2010s, it was a 600-mile pipeline for fracked gas.  These two examples bookend the many comparable campaigns we waged during the last 36 years. 

Beginning in 1984, BREDL organized community groups in several western North Carolina counties which were on the U.S. Department of Energy’s maps for potential dump sites: Ashe, Watauga, Mitchell, Madison, Haywood, Buncombe and more.  These community groups effectively and efficiently fomented local opposition and created a nexus of organized leaders who pressed local, state and federal officials in a top-to-bottom strategy.  Local people know where the levers of neighborhood power are. After a five-year campaign, which also reached out to activists in similarly targeted communities across the country, Congress changed the law it had created in 1982 to select a dumpsite.  This effectively ended the program. 

In 2014, BREDL’s organizing strategy was employed again, this time in response to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s initiative to permit a huge climate-killing natural gas pipeline across three states.  Once again, a map of targeted counties provided us with a warning sign.  So, like beads on a string, we organized community groups from Fayetteville, North Carolina to Buckingham, Virginia.  As before, local organizing work provided the power for a unified movement and common strategies based on mutual benefit.  Ultimately, the power companies abandoned the project. 

Our method of organizing communities begins with learning the unique situation of each group, taking the time to know local people and their history, and focusing strategy on tactics which reveal their inherent power.  Until recently, this first contact was always done face-to-face, with generous travel budgets for organizers to go to the communities requesting help.  Other means of providing this personal attention have become necessary, but the principle of one-community-at-a-time with a unified goal remains unaltered.  Community organizing is about people, not about issues or technology.

Some use the term “empowerment”, but that is not what we offer.  In no way do we authorize or give permission to any community.  Our relationships with community groups are not transactional. Presuming that BREDL could empower any group of independent human beings when we have neither power to give nor the right to bestow authority would be hierarchical and colonizing. We may inspire by example or encourage initiative,  but we may never invade another’s domain.

In the above examples—nuke dumps and pipelines, and scores of others—the targeting of select sites by government agencies and industry groups is potentially a divide-and-conquer strategy, picking winners and losers, offering incentives and other persuasion.  But the tactic can be turned back on the antagonist when it is met with broad-based, unified opposition.  And when the opposition comes from a variety of places in a variety of ways, it is more difficult and complicated to respond to.  With enough sand in the gears, even a well-oiled machine can grind to a halt.

 

Activists don’t quit

 We will be blogging individual articles from The League Line, our quarterly newsletter

Link to Fall 2020 edition: http://bredl.org/theleagueline/Fall2020.pdf

By Renee Cail

 

As we continue our quest for environmental justice, I had to stop and reflect as we cope with a pandemic that has killed thousands of people worldwide. I thought about our strategizing, our hard work, our frustrations, and our time spent away from our families. I have heard comments about the “New Normal”, but is it normal?  We are zooming daily without the in-person face to face contact, computers doing their own thing, our eyes tired from researching and learning new innovative methodologies.

As we sit at home dodging COVID-19, facing concerns for the wellbeing of those we love, some often wonder, are we going to be all right? Our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, neighbors, strangers, leaders, essential workers and the like seem to be struggling to survive in a climate of uncertainty.

Our planet, our environment, that darn climate change. Everyone is affected whether they deny it or not. Since many of us are hunkered down, we have time to think about ways to enhance our lives and the lives of others. Yes, we are all interconnected whether we want to be or not. We cry, we sing, we dance, we talk, we fuss and most of us genuinely seek a better world. As for the profit conglomerates, I hope they will see the damage they are imparting to the world.

As I think of my co-workers and BREDL staff, those we are joining and those joining us, we have much to do. I believe that with the adversity we face, we will see there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel. Your good work will lend itself to awesome and unforgettable legacies, your tears and smiles will live on for centuries to come. Your spirited tenacious journey is such an inspiration to so many. Always remember, activists do not quit, they thrive.