The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has denied a Clean Water Act approval for the 75-mile Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) natural gas transmission system.
The state agency refused to grant a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification because the purpose of the Southgate project is in doubt so long as the mainline of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is incomplete and the project’s owners lack all necessary federal permits.
Without greater certainty about the mainline, an approval of the environmental impacts of Southgate project construction would be unjustified, the agency said in a letter to Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC.
Construction of the 303-mile mainline of Mountain Valley has been halted pending completion of consultation between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. FERC nevertheless approved the 75-mile Southgate project June 18 (OGJ Online, June 18, 2020).
State official opposes project
While the North Carolina regulator presented its position as dependent on federal regulatory clearance and completion of the mainline, North Carolina Secretary of Environmental Quality Michael Regan issued a statement flatly opposing the Southgate project.
“This has always been an unnecessary project that poses unnecessary risks to our environment,” Regan said.
“North Carolina’s clean energy future is not dependent on adding more natural gas infrastructure,” Regan said. “Projects like this slow down the state’s goal to reduce greenhouse gases.”
Developer anticipates completion
Equitrans Midstream Corp. is still targeting an in-service date in early 2021 for Mountain Valley, according to information it released when reporting its second-quarter earnings (OGJ Online, Aug. 5, 2020).
Mountain Valley is intended to provide up to 2 bcfd of firm transmission capacity for gas from the Marcellus and Utica shales to markets in the mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions. The Southgate extension, to run from southwestern Virginia into north-central North Carolina, would have a capacity of up to 375 MMcfd.
The Mountain Valley system is a joint venture of EQM Midstream Partners LP, NextEra Capital Holdings Inc., Con Edison Transmission Inc., WGL Midstream (an affiliate of Washington Gas Light Co.), and RGC Midstream (an affiliate of Roanoke Gas Co.). EQM, a unit of Equitrans Midstream Corp., will operate the pipeline.
