Mountain Valley urges US Supreme Court to lift stays and resume pipeline construction
(UI) — Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC has submitted a request to the U.S. Supreme Court to lift stays issued by a federal court that had stopped work on a section of its West Virginia-to-Virginia natural gas pipeline.
On July 10, a Virginia appeals court blocked work on the final short stretch of the 303-mile (488-km) pipeline that would have passed through the Jefferson National Forest, which is controlled by the federal government. Construction on that segment should cease while the court reviews the project's federal approvals, the court ruled with environmentalists who were opposed to the project.
Environmentalists claim that the project will degrade the forest's soil and water quality and utilize more natural gas, one of the main fossil fuels and a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a crucial swing vote in the Senate and one of the biggest receivers of contributions from fossil fuel firms in Congress, has long backed approval of the Mountain Valley project. In the debt ceiling agreement reached in May between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, approval of Mountain Valley was also included.
The pipeline is seen to be crucial for releasing greater gas supplies from Appalachia, the country's largest shale gas producing zone, according to Reuters. The pipeline had gotten authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in June to restart construction.
Conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a crucial swing vote in the Senate and one of the biggest receivers of contributions from fossil fuel firms in Congress, has long backed approval of the Mountain Valley project. In the debt ceiling agreement reached in May between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, approval of Mountain Valley was also included.
The pipeline is seen to be crucial for releasing greater gas supplies from Appalachia, the country's largest shale gas producing zone. The pipeline had gotten authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in June to restart construction.
The debt agreement passed by Congress stated that the pipeline was in the national interest and "expressly stripped all courts" of jurisdiction to review decisions made by federal agencies regarding its approval, according to Mountain Valley, who claimed that the appellate court lacked jurisdiction to halt construction.
Equitrans Midstream, the principal partner in developing the pipe, together with NextEra Energy, Consolidated Edison, AltaGas, and RGC Resources control portions of Mountain Valley.
The project is one of several that have recently been put on hold as a result of legal and regulatory battles with local and environmental organizations.
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