Huntington, W.Va. – Yesterday, Appalachian Mountain Advocates submitted comments on behalf of Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club to the Army Corps of Engineers in opposition to a proposal that attempts to skip the agency’s typical review process for certain types of energy projects in West Virginia. In its proposal, the Corps cites President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14156, which purports to declare a “National Energy Emergency.”
Through the alarming proposed “Regional General Permit” and “Letter of Permission Procedure,” the Army Corps seeks to skip standard review for “energy and energy related projects” meeting certain requirements. The permit would attempt to grant blanket permission to energy- and energy resource-related companies to discharge sediment and pollution in waterways, and to build structures in, over, or under waterways, and otherwise work in waterways for any projects related to energy or an energy resource-related activity.
The federal Clean Water Act limits general permits to activities that are similar in nature and cause minimal environmental harm. The proposed Regional General Permit lumps together activities with vastly different and significant impacts under an overly broad category of “energy related.” This sweeping approach attempts to treat pipelines, valley fills, dams and transmission corridors as if they were the same, undermining the law’s requirement that general permits apply only to activities with comparable characteristics and impacts.
“The Corps should withdraw this sweeping permit and restore case-by-case review to protect West Virginia’s waterways and the people who rely on them,” said Andrew Young, Vice President for Federal Affairs at the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. “Healthy rivers are the state’s lifeblood – for anglers, communities, and a flourishing outdoor-recreation and tourism-based economy. Inventing an “energy emergency” to justify a one-size-fits-all permit puts these lifelines at risk and must be rejected.”
“West Virginians are all too familiar with degraded water quality caused by the energy industry,” said Appalachian Voices Environmental Scientist Matt Hepler. “The Army Corps permit process exists to examine the effects of individual projects on water quality, and, when done properly, can compel companies to take necessary steps to protect our water resources. The administration’s false claim of an energy emergency is being used as cover in an attempt to circumvent the permitting process, which risks causing enormous harm to drinking water, mountains, rivers, streams, farm land, parks and other vital resources in West Virginia. We urge the Army Corps to reconsider this misguided, dangerous permit.”
“This is another example of the Trump administration pulling every lever to fast-track dirty fossil fuel projects without any regard for people, the environment or the laws it’s supposed to be following,” said Hannah Connor, environmental health deputy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “There’s no energy emergency in this country, and the Army Corps has no emergency authority to justify abusing its requirements to follow the Clean Water Act. West Virginians will sacrifice their clean water and crayfish, mussels and other Appalachian critters will be buried in rubble if this permit takes effect.”
