WVDEP Approves Construction Stormwater Permit for Mountaineer Gas Company Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project

Natural gas pipeline will travel through Morgan and Berkeley Counties 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) has approved the “Stormwater Associated with Oil and Gas Related Construction Activities General Permit” for the Mountaineer Gas Company Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project. 

The Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project is a proposed project that is comprised of approximately 23 miles of natural gas pipeline through Morgan and Berkeley Counties in West Virginia. This registration would be for the discharge of stormwater associated with the disturbance of 191.7 acres of land for the construction of the project.

The permit, commonly referred to as the “Construction Stormwater Permit,” gives WVDEP wide ranging inspection and enforcement authority. The pipeline construction stormwater permit allows WVDEP and its enforcement officers to oversee construction activity along the full route of the pipeline including water crossings, uplands, and every other part of the impacted surface through which the pipeline crosses. 

The construction stormwater permit, which is an additional layer of environmental protection that West Virginia has that surrounding states do not have, was created approximately five years ago to specifically cover activities associated with oil and gas related construction.