The developers of the 300-mile (483km) Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline are asking an appeals court to reinstate two key regulatory approvals that are needed to finish the project.
The pipeline, in two separate court appeals filed last week, is seeking to reinstate an endangered species permit and land crossing authorization that the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals threw out earlier this year. The pipeline argues the court "selectively disregarded" rules about how to review actions by the federal agencies that authorized the pipeline.
"The agencies did not 'cut corners,'" the pipeline said in regulatory filing the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission published today. "Instead, the agencies have expended substantial time and resources on the permit reviews."
US midstream company Equitrans Midstream, the lead developer of the project, said on 22 February it could no longer estimate when the 2 Bcf/d (57mn m³/d) project would start operations or if costs would rise beyond $6.2bn. Another project sponsor, utility company NextEra Energy, last month wrote off the entirety of its $770mn investment in the project.
The Mountain Valley pipeline is designed to transport Appalachian gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.
US senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) last week said he would sponsor legislation to give the "green light" to the Mountain Valley pipeline and allow it to be completed in four months. Manchin said finishing the project would reduce energy prices, lower greenhouse gas emissions and eventually be used to transport hydrogen.
