Tag: Natural Gas Pipelines

Finish Mountain Valley Pipeline To Deter Russia, Manchin Says

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin has called for the immediate completion of a stalled natural gas pipeline as an alternative to Russian energy.

Manchin said the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which stretches 300 miles across West Virginia and Virginia, can help European countries rely less on Russia for natural gas.

The pipeline is mostly complete but tied up in federal court. Environmental groups have successfully brought the project to a halt over concerns about impacts on waterways and endangered species.

But Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the pipeline should be completed now.

“That one pipeline coming out of West Virginia will put 2 billion cubic feet of gas a day into the market,” he said. “That can be accomplished in eight months. They’re 95 percent completed.”

Manchin is leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers in an effort to ban Russian imports of oil, natural gas and coal.

Mountain Valley Pipeline Hits New Roadblock Over Endangered Fish

A natural gas pipeline project in West Virginia and Virginia has hit another legal roadblock.

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the federal government’s assessment of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s impact on two endangered fish.

The decision is the latest setback for the 300-mile pipeline, intended to carry two billion cubic feet a day of natural gas from northern West Virginia.

In recent weeks, the same court rejected a permit for the pipeline to cross through the Jefferson National Forest on the Virginia-West Virginia border.

The Sierra Club and other organizations had sued to block the permit and challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s findings on the endangered fish.

The pipeline’s route crosses 1,100 streams, some of them home to the Roanoke logperch and the candy darter. The candy darter is on the verge of extinction.

The court’s ruling means the federal government will have to redo its evaluation, delaying the pipeline’s completion.

Court Again Bars Mountain Valley Pipeline From Stream, River Construction

A federal appeals court has cemented a prohibition against construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline across streams, rivers and wetlands.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Monday issued the ruling that converted a temporary, administrative stay to a conventional stay. The construction moratorium will remain in place until the court decides a legal challenge brought by environmental groups over the pipeline’s reissued federal waterbody crossing permits.

The ruling came hours after the court heard oral arguments in the case.

Conservation groups, led by the Sierra Club and represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, asked the court to review the water crossing permits reissued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late September. The groups argued that the federal agency failed to ensure waterbody crossings, under the newly issued permits, don’t cause harm to any other species.

The original Army Corps approvals were tossed by a federal appeals court in 2018.

The Fourth Circuit last month granted an emergency order to temporarily stop construction.

The ruling on Monday marks yet another setback for the 303-mile natural gas pipeline from developer EQT, which has been plagued by legal challenges. The pipeline, which is about 90 percent completed, goes through northwestern West Virginia and southern Virginia.

In the Mountain State it crosses Wetzel, Harrison, Doddridge, Lewis, Braxton, Webster, Nicholas, Greenbrier, Fayette, Summers, and Monroe counties. The multi-billion dollar project would carry 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations to markets on the East Coast.

Environmental opponents praised the decision.

“This decision will help ensure the pipeline doesn’t keep posing catastrophic threats to waterways that people and imperiled species depend on to survive,” said Jared Margolis, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group headquartered in Arizona.

In a separate lawsuit, environmental groups are also challenging the legality around two additional newly reissued federal permits that address the project’s impacts on endangered species.

Environmental Groups Ask Federal Court To Once Again Stop Construction Of The Mountain Valley Pipeline

Environmental organizations, led by local advocacy group Appalachian Voices, have once again asked a federal court to halt construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

In a motion filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the groups asked the court to stop construction of the 303-mile natural gas pipeline, which is more than 90 percent completed, while the federal bench sorts through the legality around two newly reissued federal permits.

The permits, reissued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in early September, include the Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The permits address concerns around how the project could impact endangered species.

In October 2019, the Fourth Circuit tossed the project’s Biological Opinion and halted the project following a similar lawsuit by environmental groups.

In the new motion, Appalachian Voices argues the agency did not consider all of the appropriate information before reissuing the approvals.

The project, from developer EQT, goes through northwestern West Virginia and southern Virginia. In the Mountain State it crosses Wetzel, Harrison, Doddridge, Lewis, Braxton, Webster, Nicholas, Greenbrier, Fayette, Summers, and Monroe Counties. The project has faced several court challenges in the past two years over state and federal permits on both sides of the border. The multi-billion dollar project would carry 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations to markets on the East Coast.

In a separate lawsuit, environmental groups are also challenging a permit that allows the pipeline to cross streams and wetlands. The Fourth Circuit has temporarily blocked construction across waterways. Oral arguments are scheduled for Nov. 9.

Court Issues Emergency Order Blocking Mountain Valley Pipeline From Stream, Wetland Construction

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline from doing construction across streams and wetlands in southern West Virginia and Virginia.

The emergency administrative stay was issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Environmental groups led by the Sierra Club appealed to the court to stop river and stream crossings after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Sept. 25 reissued the project’s permit that allows the 303-mile natural gas pipeline to cross nearly 1,000 waterways in the two states. The original approvals were tossed by a federal appeals court in 2018.

Environmental groups asked the Corps to reconsider. When the agency upheld its permits, advocates filed a lawsuit with the Fourth Circuit asking the court to review. The emergency order will remain in place until the court considers the full motion to stay.

Environmental groups, in briefs, cited an Aug. 4 earnings call during which pipeline developer Equitrans told its shareholders it would rush to complete stream crossings before the court could stop it.

In its response, Mountain Valley Pipeline opposed the stay. Developers said it ultimately expected cases from the environmental groups to fail and said it reached out to the Sierra Club in an effort to discuss the river crossings of most concern.

Mountain Valley Pipeline had previously agreed not to undertake any waterbody construction through Oct. 17.

The Friday ruling by the court puts stream construction projects on hold. However, an Oct. 9 order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission partially lifted a stop-work order for the multi-billion dollar project on all but 25 miles of national forest land. The agency also extended the project’s for two years. Despite the court order, construction along the route may resume in other areas.

Drilling Permits Cancelled For Underground Natural Gas Storage Project

Ohio environmental regulators have canceled key permits needed for an underground natural gas liquids storage facility proposed along the Ohio River.

According to an order from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, permits to drill three three Class III solution mining wells in Monroe County, Ohio were cancelled on Sept. 21. Cancellation was requested by Powhatan Salt Company LCC. The proposed wells are associated with the Mountaineer NGL Storage project, a multi-million dollar underground natural gas liquids storage project.

Experts say natural gas liquid storage — like the proposed Mountaineer project — is crucial to building out the Ohio Valley’s petrochemical industry.

In July, Mountaineer finalized an agreement with the developers of a proposed petrochemical plant in nearby Belmont County, Ohio. The plant would use natural gas liquid ethane to produce the feedstock for plastics and chemicals. Earlier in July, one of the plant’s investors pulled out of the project. Last week, the plant’s developers signed a contract with gas supplier Range Resources to provide the yet-to-be-built plant with ethane feedstock.

A coalition of environmental groups challenged Powhatan’s drilling permits arguing ODNR did not follow proper administrative procedure before issuing them.

The groups include Concerned Ohio River Residents, FreshWater Accountability Project, Buckeye Environmental Network, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the Sierra Club.

In a statement, Tom Sanzillo, director of finance at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an energy finance think tank, characterized the request by Powhatan to cancel the permits as a signal the project may be in jeopardy.

“This is a solid market signal that plans for a petrochemical buildout in Ohio and western Pennsylvania are on shaky ground,” he said. “Local and state economic development officials would serve the public better by looking for jobs and taxes in other areas of the economy that are actually profitable and growing and can be good neighbors to the communities that host them.”

According to the ODNR order, the company can reapply for the permits.

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