Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality admitted Wednesday that it provided inaccurate information nearly seven weeks ago about how it plans to handle review of potential water quality impacts of two deeply controversial natural gas transmission pipelines.

The admission dismayed people who had celebrated the earlier news that DEQ seemed poised to do a detailed review of the crossings of hundreds of streams and wetlands by the two 42-inch diameter pipelines.

James Golden, DEQ’s director of operations, acknowledged Wednesday that miscommunication between the department’s technical and public affairs staff led DEQ to misstate in early April its plans for environmental review of the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines.

“We got it wrong,” Golden said, an error he acknowledged in response to a reporter’s phone call.

He said pipeline opponents might contend larger political forces were at play that led DEQ to backpedal, but he dismissed the idea.

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