Tag: VA Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

State Water Control Board turns down ‘speculative’ water permit request

Virginia Mercury: State Water Control Board turns down ‘speculative’ water permit request.

The Virginia State Water Control Board last week denied a proposal by the owners of Cranston’s Mill Pond in James City County to withdraw millions of gallons of water per day to sell to potential buyers, drawing a hard line against what state officials have cast as speculative use of a public good.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality “determined that issuing a permit this speculative would set an unwarranted precedent that would encourage the privatization of a public water resource,” Scott Kudlas, director of DEQ’s Office of Water Supply, told the board.

Pond owner Restoration Systems, however, has argued that although it has not secured an end user of the water, ongoing groundwater scarcity in the eastern portion of the state justifies the awarding of a water withdrawal permit.

Virginia says it can’t issue stream crossing permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline before winter

Virginia Mercury: Virginia says it can’t issue stream crossing permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline before winter.

Despite developers’ hopes of completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline by the end of 2021, Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality has told federal officials that it won’t be able to issue a new water quality permit for the project’s stream crossings before December.

“Based on the complexity of this project and past public controversy, we cannot reasonably issue the (Virginia Water Protection) permit before December 2021 and we believe it is quite likely that we could not issue this permit until early 2022,” wrote DEQ Water Permitting Division Director Melanie Davenport in a March 25 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In Another Big Blow to Mountain Valley Pipeline, Virginia DEQ Says MVP Cannot Use a Nationwide Permit to Cross Hundreds of Water Bodies in Virginia

Blue Virginia discusses In Another Big Blow to Mountain Valley Pipeline, Virginia DEQ Says MVP Cannot Use a Nationwide Permit to Cross Hundreds of Water Bodies in Virginia. On December 21, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers containing a list of certifications under the Clean Water Act.  Buried at page 30 of the letter, which was just released today and published here (see below) for the first time, Virginia DEQ appears to rule that Nationwide Permit 12, a one size fits all general permit, cannot be used by pipelines greater than 36 inches (MVP is 42 inches) to cross hundreds of waterways in Virginia.  Instead, MVP will now have to do what advocates have been saying for years – apply for stream by stream reviews and permits for each of the water crossings.  DEQ ruled as follows:

In Another Big Blow to Mountain Valley Pipeline, Virginia DEQ Says MVP Cannot Use a Nationwide Permit to Cross Hundreds of Water Bodies in Virginia

Blue Virginia discusses In Another Big Blow to Mountain Valley Pipeline, Virginia DEQ Says MVP Cannot Use a Nationwide Permit to Cross Hundreds of Water Bodies in Virginia.

On December 21, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers containing a list of certifications under the Clean Water Act.  Buried at page 30 of the letter, which was just released today and published here (see below) for the first time, Virginia DEQ appears to rule that Nationwide Permit 12, a one size fits all general permit, cannot be used by pipelines greater than 36 inches (MVP is 42 inches) to cross hundreds of waterways in Virginia.  Instead, MVP will now have to do what advocates have been saying for years – apply for stream by stream reviews and permits for each of the water crossings.  DEQ ruled as follows:

Even after pipeline pollution, DEQ is still resisting water protections and public participation

Virginia Mercury discusses why DEQ is resisting water protections and public participation in pipeline decisions.

In March, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality announced a new stakeholder advisory group to discuss numeric criteria for turbidity in streams.

Turbidity is a measure of sediment (dirt) and organic materials that make waterbodies cloudy or muddy, harm fish and other critters and impair human uses. Numeric criteria are an important tool in permitting and enforcement. The need for these requirements is all too plain, after assaults on our waters by Mountain Valley Pipeline and DEQ’s weak responses.

There are two major problems with DEQ’s effort.

Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next.

Virginia Mercury discusses RGGI. Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next.

A year after Republican resistance stalled Virginia’s effort to cap carbon emissions from large producers of the greenhouse gas at the forefront of climate change, the wheels are again in motion: Virginia is joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Joining the cap-and-invest program was one of Democrats’ top legislative priorities for the 2020 General Assembly session. Thanks to their majorities in both the House of Delegates and the Senate, they achieved their goal on mostly, but not quite, party-line votes. Gov. Ralph Northam has also supported the state’s participation, although several technical amendments he’s proposed related to fund administration still have to be approved by the reconvened General Assembly next week.

“By joining RGGI, Virginia will take part in a proven, market-based program for reducing carbon pollution in a manner that protects consumers,” Northam said in a statement Sunday. “I am proposing important refinements and I look forward to signing it into law soon.”

 

Ongoing Potomac aquifer worries drive wave of new laws

This Virginia Mercury article discusses the ongoing Potomac aquifer worries that are driving a wave of new laws in Virginia, including a ban on fracking in the Taylorsville Basin.

From banning hydraulic fracturing in the eastern part of the state to restricting the water reserves from which certain wells can draw, lawmakers in both parties and both chambers this session are moving to protect Virginia’s vulnerable Potomac aquifer.

“It’s a significant issue,” Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Stafford, told the Senate Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee Jan. 21. “It is a giant body of freshwater that the seafood industry relies on in the area I represent, and that millions of people rely on for drinking water and a lot of other activities. And if you ruin it, I guess it’s done for ten thousand years.”

Report: Governor Northam on Executive Order Number Six

This report discusses how the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality should be modernized. On April 3, 2018, Governor Northam signed Executive Order Number Six (EO-6): Supporting the Critical Role of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in Protection of Virginia’s Air, Water, and Public Health. The purpose of EO-6 was to begin a process to thoroughly assess the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) ability to carry out its mission, and identify areas where additional funding or authorities are necessary to protect Virginia’s environment. This report is the culmination of that process.

Delegate pushes for an explanation from DEQ on Mountain Valley Pipeline

This article discusses a politician’s request to Virginia’s DEQ to provide information on the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Del. Chris Hurst, D-Montgomery, has asked the Department of Environmental Quality to issue a stop work order on the Mountain Valley Pipeline until a lawsuit filed by the state over hundreds of construction violations is resolved.

“The destruction of our clean water in Virginia caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline has gone on for long enough,” Hurst tweeted.

In a letter to DEQ Director David Paylor, Hurst said Paylor has the authority to pause construction of the 303-mile pipeline under approved 2018 legislation that gives the department power to halt work when projects have caused “substantial adverse impacts to water quality or are likely to cause imminent and substantial adverse impacts to water quality.”