Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP), aiming to get its long-delayed project into service by the end of this year, asked FERC Monday for the go-ahead to resume construction and finish building the natural gas conduit at long last.
With Congress and the Biden Administration agreeing to order authorization of the embattled natural gas conduit’s outstanding permits as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, the developer now has all the necessary approvals to restart work, MVP’s legal counsel told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a letter filed Monday.
MVP has recently-issued water quality permits in hand from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have also signed off (again) on the pipeline’s crossing of the Jefferson National Forest along the Virginia/West Virginia border.
“Each of those agencies issued their respective authorizations following exhaustive review of potential impacts on relevant environmental and other resources, including (as appropriate) additional review by federal agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act,” MVP told FERC.
MVP now possesses “all applicable authorizations required under federal law” to complete construction on the 303-mile, 2 million Dth/d pipeline, which had been stalled at roughly 94% complete amid seemingly interminable legal challenges.
Outlining a number of steps needed to authorize construction on all remaining project facilities, MVP asked FERC to act by Thursday “to allow full construction mobilization in a timely manner.”
MVP, a joint venture of EQM Midstream Partners LP, NextEra Capital Holdings Inc., Con Edison Transmission Inc., WGL Midstream and RGC Midstream LLC, continues to target an in-service date by the end of this year, the developer said.
MVP, designed to deliver Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas from West Virginia to an interconnect with Transco (aka the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line) in Southwest Virginia, first received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from FERC in 2017.
For MVP to complete construction, it would bring to a close a regulatory saga that stretches back more than half a decade. In that time, the project has faced numerous adverse legal and regulatory decisions, leading to delays and cost increases.
