FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality announced Tuesday that it sent a notice to Mountain Valley Pipeline officials outlining erosion control violations.
As work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline resumes in some areas of Virginia, people in Franklin County are still upset about the impact the project has had on their property. They are awaiting a ruling on a lawsuit filed in May and on DEQ inspection reports that could give the green light for construction to continue through their land.
Wendell Flora’s family has farmed this Franklin County land for more than 120 years. The family has worked hard to guard against erosion.
He showed 10 News pictures from May, when he watched mud pour into streams and sit in his fields. It was flowing from the pipeline work site. There was about a foot of mud on the Cahas Mountain Road.
“It was very hurtful. During the whole process, my blood pressure has been up, hard to sleep at night," Flora said.
Pipeline work has not resumed at the work site near his house, but workers were out driving along the path Tuesday, next to miles of pipe sitting on supports.
Flora is one of six landowners, including Mike Hurt, who sued MVP after the May rain. The pipeline runs through their property and they’ve been opposed to the project since the planning stage.
“The biggest hurt to me was watching them cut my trees down, probably over 200 trees whacked to the ground," Hurt said.
He said workers piled up the trees they cut down in a place Hurt can’t access. He was planning on selling the trees for timber and would like to clear away the area near his creek.
“I’m not happy with any of it. They don’t aim to deal with you in good faith, to pay you what you’ve lost,” he said. “I bought that property three or four years ago. It will be worthless now. I will never be able to sell it.”
The landowners have had many disputes with workers since construction started, including what they say is inadequate fencing that allowed a calf to escape.
“We’ve felt like we’ve been bullied the whole time, all the way through," Flora said.
However, the families are pleased with many of the erosion controls workers have installed since the heavy rain.
“They’ve been here the last couple weeks doing a lot of work to improve what was not done before. That being said, I wonder why it wasn’t done to begin with," Flora said.
MVP voluntarily stopped all work in Virginia June 29 due to erosion concerns. The company is awaiting approval from DEQ inspectors before it can resume construction at the other sites around Virginia.