Bold Alliance Statement on Issuance of Final Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline

In response to today's issuance by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the proposed Mountain Valley fracked gas pipeline, Carolyn Reilly, Bold Alliance organizer and affected landowner stated, "this is further evidence of the FERC's inadequate and abusive process that is solely supported and funded by the very corporations and industries it regulates. Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is 100% subscribed by companies affiliated with the pipeline developers and FERC has failed to demonstrate a genuine market need for this massive fracked-gas pipeline."

The Natural Gas Act specifies that FERC should prove public convenience and necessity before permitting interstate gas pipelines that carve up rural landscapes and put rural communities at risk of explosive pipeline failure. But FERC has permitted hundreds of projects in recent years based on nothing more than 'precedent agreements' which are contracts for shipping gas, in many cases with the same companies proposing the pipeline.

Reilly added, "The Mountain Valley Pipeline company expects to invoke the power of eminent domain for their private gain based on FERC's permit, yet FERC is failing to perform the assessment of convenience and necessity it is mandated to do. FERC is enabling the company's abuse of landowners as if they are just another commodity to be traded."

Appalachian landowners, citizens, and communities have been battling the proposed project for over two years, working to defend and protect their livelihoods, clean water and sacred land. Bold Alliance stands with landowners and challenges the unconstitutional taking of land for pipelines that put rural communities at risk for corporate profit. FERC should protect the rights of rural citizens and deny the permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.