North Carolina Reissues Denial of Water Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline CHAPEL HILL, NC — Today the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality reaffirmed its denial of water quality certification to Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC for construction of its Southgate Project gas pipeline. The State initially denied Mountain Valley Pipeline’s request for water quality certification in August 2020, stating the project was “inconsistent” with North Carolina’s water quality certification and riparian buffer regulations. If built, the Southgate pipeline would cut through 50 miles of rural North Carolina, trenching through hundreds of streams and wetlands and polluting the Haw River and its tributaries.