Editor:

An article published June 15 titled “Supervisors table tower permit” reported on the board of supervisors postponing the communications tower hearing due to the coordinated efforts of community members.

 This marks a small administrative victory for pipeline opponents who have found that they have been shut out of all bureaucratic avenues to having their voices heard. There is no better example of this than the headrush the Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently playing.

 In April, DEQ stated that it would exercise its authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act and require site-specific permitting for every water crossing related to both the Atlantic Coast & Mountain Valley pipelines. This decision was celebrated across the commonwealth due to the grave impacts that hydrologists say these pipelines would pose to Virginia waterways.

 Earlier this month, however, the DEQ went back on its statement, saying that rather than issue permits for individual stream crossings, the agency will defer to the Army Corps blanket permitting process.

 This decision severely lowers the standard of the state’s permitting process for these pipelines. The proposed routes currently threaten six river basins in Virginia that cumulatively account for the drinking water of nearly 14 million people.

 I encourage all Virginians who care about our waterways, our environment and the rights to private property to call David Paylor and Gov. Terry McAuliffe and encourage them to direct DEQ to exercise its authority under the Clean Water Act and conduct individual, site-specific permits for every water crossing that these pipelines threaten.

Jamshid Bakhtiari

Richmond