JCF Final Letter MVP

Commonwealth of Virginia
General Assembly
RICHMOND

August 6th, 2020
Governor Ralph Northam
Daniel Carey, Secretary of Health
Norman Oliver, Health Commissioner
Dear Governor Northam, Dr. Carey, and Dr. Oliver:

We are troubled by the recent announcement by Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that it
intends to bring more than 4,000 out-of-state workers to a concentrated area in rural Southwest
Virginia and across the border in West Virginia.
Bringing thousands of out-of-state workers to a medically underserved area of the
Commonwealth in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic is a dangerous undertaking that
would undermine efforts to keep infection rates down and intensive care unit beds available.
We urge you to take action to remove the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks by stopping MVP from
proceeding.
Though rural areas have fared better in this pandemic than dense, urban areas, as COVID-19
infections continue to spike across the country, we are concerned that rural areas might soon be
confronted with a difficult and unsustainable situation. As a group of Virginia health
professionals recently noted, the Kaiser Family Foundation has warned that millions of older
Americans live in rural areas such as Southwest Virginia that have a shortage of Intensive Care
Unit (ICU) beds. Indeed, Kaiser reports that Craig and Giles counties, which are in the path of
the MVP, have zero ICU beds. Pittsylvania County likewise has zero ICU beds and Franklin
County has only four. The entire six county area along the MVP route has roughly 100 ICU
beds. These same communities have high concentrations of older people, poor people, and
those with cardiovascular diseases, COPD, and other conditions that place them at high risk
during this pandemic.
At the same time, we know that African American and Latinx communities are suffering
much higher infection rates in this pandemic, including in Virginia. Plans to ramp up
construction at this time threatens to harm minority communities who live nearby the MVP
route and will be disproportionately impacted by any new outbreaks.
In that regard, there have been recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the Roanoke area and in the
New River Valley at multiple restaurants and outdoor construction sites. Bringing in 4,000
out-of-state workers who often will eat in local restaurants and use temporary housing
maintained by local residents could very well lead to more outbreaks and increased strain on
local health resources.
The dangers posed by MVP’s staffing plan underscores why Virginia infrastructure projects
during the COVID-19 pandemic must focus on keeping workers safe, not exposing more
workers to unnecessary dangers. Virginia became a national leader in adopting COVID-19
worker safety requirements last month. However, enforcement of these Virginia protections,
which may exceed industry standards, becomes significantly more difficult when dealing
with an out-of-state business owner brought here as a subcontractor.
General Assembly
RICHMOND

This is not the time to make a bad situation worse. In October of 2019, the Commonwealth
entered into a consent decree – and fined MVP more than $2 million – in a case involving more
than 300 violations of Virginia’s environmental laws and regulations. Recently, the
Commonwealth assessed $86,000 in fines for additional violations that occurred even when
construction was paused.
As a result of federal court decisions, MVP has lost permits required under the Endangered
Species Act, as well as permits required to cross the more than 1,200 water bodies along the
route. These are precisely the same permits that were lost by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline
before Dominion Energy announced on July 5 that it was cancelling that project.
We must look after Virginia workers and the communities in rural Virginia who would
suffer. We urge you to do all in your power to stop MVP from proceeding with construction
at any point during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sincerely,

Dawn M. Adams Hala Alaya Betsy Carr
Member, House of Delegates Member, House of Delegates Member, House of Delegates
68th District 51st District 69th District

Jennifer Carroll Foy Lee Carter Wendy Gooditis
2nd District 50th District 10th District

Elizabeth Guzman Patrick Hope Chris Hurst
31st District 47th District 12th District

General Assembly
RICHMOND

Mark Keam Kaye Kory Mark Levine
35th District 38th District 45th District

Kenneth R. Plum Sam Rasoul Danica Roem

Ibraheem Samirah Suhas Subramanyam Josh Cole

Sally Hudson Creigh Deeds John Edwards
Member, House of Delegates Member, Senate of Virginia Member, Senate of Virginia
57th District 25th District 21st District

Ghazala Hashmi
Member, Senate of Virginia
10th District

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Commonwealth of Virginia

Dear Governor Northam, Dr. Carey, and Dr. Oliver:

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