Dear editor,
The future of Salem’s water quality depends on preserving the pristine upland water sources – wetlands, sinkholes, trout streams and Tier 3 waters on Bent Mountain and on the North Fork in Montgomery County that feed the Roanoke River. MVP has not yet crossed Bent Mountain and is currently under a stop-work order.
Salem sources its water directly from the Roanoke River and wells that largely depend on the river – not from the Spring Hollow Reservoir where the water has a chance to sit and naturally filter. Consequently, it is essential to preserve the quality of the watershed.
The Peak Stormwater assessment on which MVP is being constructed is obviously wrong. Evidence is the large number of sediment violations all along the MVP route which has been the cause of Virginia A.G.’s Consent Decree that cost MVP over $2 million. Whether MVP goes through or under hundreds of streams, the environmental harm to our watershed and the cost of Salem’s water treatment is profound. Please call AG Herring and urge him to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline from polluting our water. Dial 877-845-9038 and urge him to stop MVP from violating the Clean Water Act. Demand that MVP get a new, truthful Peak Stormwater Permit before any further construction.
- Cynthia Munley, Preserve Salem
