Dear Editor,
The Letter to the Editor published in the Salem Times~Register on Thursday, March 14, was mistakenly printed under my name. That letter was by the editorial staff of the Roanoke Times. The letter I submitted in reaction to the March 1, 2019, State Water Control Board meeting is below.
After ignoring the State Water Control Board’s (SWCB) move to reconsider MVP’s water permit (12-13-18), DEQ finally held a Richmond meeting on March 1 to discuss that effort. The presence of overwhelming state police was a harbinger that the fix was in. DEQ finally set the meeting – not to reconsider the 401 certificate in light of hundreds of MVP civil and criminal violations, but to bow directly to MVP’s demand asking the SWCB to discontinue a process aimed at stopping pipeline construction.
After four hours, the board emerged and declared that they could not revoke the certificate. No public input. No explanation. Room quickly cleared by police.
The DEQ, supported by Virginia taxpayers, answers directly to an outside venture capital MVP, criminally and needlessly destroying Virginia mountains, farms and waterbodies and setting a 300-mile explosive “bomb” across Virginia’s Blue Ridge. MVP’s letter to DEQ brazenly stated that if the permit was revoked that it would continue construction anyway. Open, obvious Virginia pipeline corruption (Northam, Herring, DEQ) is the problem. Virginia’s A.G. should protect Virginia citizens – not a criminal pipeline by improperly arguing MVP’s case behind closed doors.
Because Salem did not join Roanoke County’s Spring Hollow reservoir, Salem is especially vulnerable to MVP. Our water comes directly from the Roanoke River with increasingly limited groundwater withdrawal. Long-term MVP toxic poisoning of Roanoke River’s North and South Forks augers cancer and disease for future generations.
We have a right to clean water, but as MVP forces mud into our streams, our Democracy equally erodes. Meanwhile, police are used to clear the room and make space for massive injustice.
- Cynthia Munley