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Another Legal Battle Looms Over Mountain Valley Pipeline

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Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are gearing up for another legal fight to try to stop the natural gas project.

The Roanoke Times reports that environmental and community groups filed a petition this week with a federal appeals court.

The groups want the court to review last week’s decision by the State Water Control Board to allow the infrastructure to cross streams and wetlands. The pipeline’s planned 300-mile route cuts through West Virginia and Virginia.

The Sierra Club was among the groups that filed the petition with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pipeline opponents say Mountain Valley should not be allowed to continue given its past track record of violating erosion and sediment regulations in southwest Virginia.

But Mountain Valley said those problems were largely caused by heavy rain in 2018 and have been corrected.

Attempts to kill the $6.2 billion project have so far failed. Five energy companies constructing the pipeline say it’s necessary to provide natural gas along the East Coast.