US Appeals Court vacates Equitrans’ Mountain Valley pipeline permits

The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed US Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approvals related to Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline’s still pending 3.5-mile crossing of the Jefferson National Forest. The court found that USFS and BLM had failed to properly predict and prevent erosion and sedimentation occurring during the pipeline’s construction to date.

The Forest Service and BLM must now reconsider the permits, a process which could take more than a year.

The 303-mile, 2-bcfd Mountain Valley pipeline is more than 90% complete and Equitrans had hoped to put it in service during 2022, already 4 years later than originally planned.

Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote in the unanimous decision that “because the Forest Service did not sufficiently consider the Pipeline’s actual sediment and erosion impacts…the amendments to the Jefferson Forest Plan may not maintain soil and riparian resources within the scope of the 2012 Planning Rule. And because the Forest Service does not have a clear indication from FERC about the environmental impacts of the use of the conventional bore method to cross the four streams within the Jefferson National Forest, it is unclear whether the amendments to the Jefferson Forest Plan [would] maintain the forest’s resources, as the 2012 Planning Rule intended.”