The cost of a controversial natural gas pipeline has gone up and its completion delayed.
The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline will now cost $7.2 billion to finish, and that won’t happen until next year, its builders told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a filing Wednesday, Equitrans Midstream cited labor conditions as part of the reason the project won’t be completed this year and above the $6.6 billion it previously estimated.
Construction resumed on the Mountain Valley Pipeline over the summer after Congress required its completion.
It had been held up in court numerous times as environmental groups and landowners successfully challenged the project’s federal permits.
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the remaining cases after lawmakers approved those permits.