| The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) Friday approved the "Stormwater Associated with Oil and Gas Related Construction Activities General Permit" for the Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline (MXP).
The pipeline crosses a few miles in Calhoun, where a $94 million compressor station is being built.
The MXP natural gas pipeline, a Columbia Gas Transmission project, as proposed will travel approximately 171 miles in West Virginia, with project activities occurring in Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie, Calhoun, Wirt, Roane, Jackson, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Cabell, and Wayne counties.
The permit, commonly referred to as the "Construction Stormwater Permit," gives WVDEP wide ranging inspection and enforcement authority. The pipeline construction stormwater permit allows WVDEP and its enforcement officers to oversee construction activity along the full route of the pipeline including water crossings, uplands, and every other part of the impacted surface through which the pipeline crosses.
The construction stormwater permit, which is an additional layer of environmental protection that West Virginia has that surrounding states do not have, was created approximately five years ago to specifically cover activities associated with oil and gas related construction. |
