The Mountain Valley Pipeline has been dealt another setback in federal court.
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has voided the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s clean water certification for the project.
The builders of the 300-mile natural gas pipeline will have to start over. It needs the permission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cross streams and wetlands, and it cannot receive that without the DEP’s certification.
The project is behind schedule in part due to multiple legal setbacks.
It lacks authorization from the U.S. Forest Service to cross the Jefferson National Forest on the border between West Virginia and Virginia because of an earlier ruling from the Fourth Circuit.
The pipeline is a top priority for state leaders, including U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.
Last month, Republican U.S. Rep. Carol Miller introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to finish the pipeline.