Mountain Valley Natural Gas Pipeline Project Update

The MVP project crosses the western half of Webster County with its mid-point near Erbacon.

In the Fall of 2014, representatives of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project made a presentation in Webster County at the Webster Springs Municipal Building to inform residents of the proposed pipeline.  In October, 2015, the MVP filed its formal request for approval with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Approval is still pending.

This natural gas pipeline project is for a buried 42 inch pipeline that begins in northern West Virginia and ends in North Carolina.  The pipeline is projected to cross most of the western half of Webster County from Lower Lick Run near Replete to Camden on Gauley.

Proponents of the MVP project tout its economic benefit to Webster County in the form of estimated personal property tax revenue in its first year of operation (set for late 2018) in the range of $1.4 million, with depreciating revenues in following years.

The project has hit one major stumbling block when in August, 2015, Monroe County Circuit Judge Robert Irons ruled in favor of property owners who were seeking to stop MVP surveyors from entering their properties to survey for the pipeline's location.  Judge Irons ruled that the MVP project failed to establish that the project would provide sufficient public use to justify entering private property without an owner's permission.  It is not clear whether that ruling was appealed.  MVP can simply go around the objecting property owners onto property where the owners do consent.

According to the project schedule, construction is slated to begin in December, 2016 (see below).

The Mountain Valley Pipline project map showing its path across West Virginia into Virginia.