Builders of the Mountain Valley Pipeline says they’ve completed most of the 304-mile project, but Wild Virginia’s David Sligh says the hardest part has yet to begin.
“They have not crossed hundreds of streams, and they have not crossed the national forest and some other areas that are particularly difficult for them to do construction, and those areas are going to be some of the most difficult they have,” he explains.
A coalition of environmental groups will again challenge a permit to build through three and a half miles of the Jefferson National Forest. Late last week the forest service issued another environmental impact statement.
“This will be their third chance to make a good decision," Sligh says. "They’ve failed in that effort before twice, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said they weren’t valid. The Fish and Wildlife Service has done a bad job now three times in a row. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, just a couple of weeks ago, the court said they didn’t do their job correctly.”
The project is more than three years behind scheduled and more than three billion dollars over budget.
