Court stays Mountain Valley water crossings until ruling

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an immediate stay on stream and wetland crossing permits in southern West Virginia and Virginia for EQM Midstream Partners LP’s 303-mile, 2-bcfd Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The court had issued an emergency stay Oct. 16. Today’s stay remains in effect until the 4th Circuit rules on a petition filed by eight environmental groups to overturn Army Corps of Engineers’ (ACE) water permits for MVP.

MVP would connect Appalachian basin natural gas production to mid-Atlantic markets. Equitrans expects to complete the project in 2021. It started construction in February 2018 and is 92% complete, according to the company. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last month granted Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC a 2-year extension for completion of the pipeline, through Oct. 13, 2022 (OGJ Online, Oct. 12, 2020).

The eight groups, represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, filed a challenge Sept. 25 to ACE’s reissuance of two Nationwide Permit 12 (NP12) approvals that would allow MVP LLC to perform various water crossings. The court had rejected ACE’s first round of permit approvals in 2018.

MVP had hoped to continue working until the court’s final ruling. It will now focus its efforts on work in upland areas not governed by the NP12 process.

The groups filing the challenge include Appalachian Voices, Center for Biological Diversity, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Sierra Club, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and Wild Virginia.

EQM Midstream owns a 45.5% operating interest in MVP LLC, with affiliates of NextEra Energy Inc., Consolidated Edison Inc., AltaGas Ltd., and RGC Resources Inc. owning the balance.