Mountain Valley Pipeline

When Congress raised the debt ceiling, it also approved a provision that cleared the way for construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The measure told federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service to approve construction permits within 21 days and blocked federal courts from getting in the way. Builders of the MVP immediately asked judges to throw out pending lawsuits that could have stopped the project – and environmentalists have until Thursday to object.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled on a case involving six Virginia landowners and developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This case challenges whether the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has the right to give eminent domain authority to a for-profit entity.

A statement from a spokesman says Mountain Valley remains committed to the MVP Southgate project.

Back in 2020, federal regulators gave a two-year extension to developers of the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline. Now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is granting another extension – this time four more years for the group to obtain all the necessary permits and complete construction.

Most of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has already been constructed. But many permits are still needed to connect the natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia. And environmentalists are worried that the deal making now happening in Washington with climate change legislation might open the door to efforts to weaken the permitting process.

When backers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline first began planning, they figured it would be finished by 2018 and would cost $3.5 billion. Now the 300-mile pipeline is expected to cost more than $6 billion, and it’s still missing many of the permits needed to finish work.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found unanimously that the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management failed to properly predict and prevent erosion and sedimentation problems.

Staff from the Department of Environmental Quality told the board previous violations were not grounds to deny a new permit and recommended approval.

State regulators have dealt a blow to a compressor station that’s vital for the Mountain Valley Pipeline to stretch into North Carolina.

In the next few weeks, the State Water Control Board will vote on whether to grant certification to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would carry fracked natural gas 300 miles from northern West Virginia to Southside Virginia. Environmentalists are raising concerns about water quality, but social justice advocates are also speaking out.