Enviro Groups Ask Fourth Circuit to Stay Nationwide Permit 12 Verifications for Mountain Valley Pipeline

Thanks to Jon Sokolow for the “heads up” on this:

BREAKING NEWS: Environmental groups ask Fourth Circuit to STAY Nationwide Permit 12 verifications for Mountain Valley Pipeline!!!! Stay requested for the Huntington (West Virginia ) and for the Norfolk (Virginia) permits!!! Corps has until [Tuesday] to respond!

From the Motion in the Huntington case:

“Here we go again. In 2018, this Court told Respondent United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) “an individual [Section 404] permit will likely be necessary” for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (hereinafter, the “Pipeline”). Sierra Club v. U.S.A.C.O.E., 909 F.3d 635, 655 (4th Cir. 2018). Nonetheless, on September 25, 2020, the Corps’ Huntington District once more unlawfully verified that Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC (“MVP”), is authorized to use the streamlined Clean Water Act (“CWA”) permit known as Nationwide Permit (“NWP”) 12. Ex. 1 (hereinafter, the “Verification”). As explained below, that action is unlawful because (1) the Corps failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) when it issued NWP 12 in 2017, and (2) the Corps’ effort to remove a permit condition this Court determined MVP cannot satisfy was ineffective.”