The Mountain Valley Pipeline team has worked hard to design a route for the 303-mile long project that minimizes its impacts on sensitive areas and communities. That hard work has been recognized by federal regulators, who concluded adverse impacts associated with MVP’s construction and operation could be reduced to less-than-significant levels.
The underground pipeline’s permanent right-of-way is 50 feet wide, and crews have pledged to return the right-of-way as close as possible to pre-construction conditions. That means replanting native species and other suitable vegetation to restore conditions consistent with the surrounding environment.
But the MVP project team has also committed to supporting environmental causes, and mitigating the project’s impacts, across Southwest Virginia. Mountain Valley has provided significant funding to support the purchase of thousands of acres across the region for recreation and conservation.
These purchases include:
- 553 acres of intact forest buttressing the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech
- More than 800 acres of forest, including highly sensitive and old-growth acreage, in Giles County
- 304 acres of forestland added to Read Mountain Preserve
- 400 acres to expand Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve in Roanoke County
In 2020, the project team announced a voluntary conservation stewardship agreement. As part of the agreement, Mountain Valley committed up to $19.5 million to support efforts to conserve land along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail corridor and support recreation-based economies in Virginia and West Virginia.
These efforts are part of the ethos of Mountain Valley. Natural gas is abundant, affordable and the cleanest burning fossil fuel, and its increased use across the U.S. has helped lower carbon emissions, strengthen our nation’s energy security and support economic development.
As an interstate transmission pipeline, the MVP project will help meet public demand for lower-carbon energy in a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible manner well into the future.