Updates with comment from Dominion Transmission
An appeals court has thrown out a required right-of-way allowing the 1.4 Bcf/d (40mn m³/d) Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline to cut a path through forests visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that President Donald Trump's administration failed to explain how creating a permanent clearing for the $5bn pipeline was consistent with the parkway's scenic and conservation goals. The 469-mile road is part of the National Park System and includes scenic overlooks from which the forest clearing for the pipeline would be visible.
Dominion Transmission, the pipeline's developer, said it would work with regulators to address the court's concerns. The company expects it can resolve the issues raised without causing "unnecessary delay" to the project.
Dominion said there is "ample support" to issue a new right-of-way that would address omissions in the initial permit. The pipeline has been scheduled to enter service in the second half of 2019.
"The Atlantic Coast pipeline has been the most thoroughly reviewed infrastructure project in the history of our region. Today's court ruling is further evidence of this unprecedented scrutiny and the high standard that is being applied to the project," the company said.
The 604-mile pipeline, if completed, would transport shale gas from West Virginia into Virginia and North Carolina. But the project has faced permitting delays and earlier setbacks in court. The same appeals court in May threw out a project permit under the Endangered Species Act, but that ruling has only prevented construction along about 100 miles of the project where those species reside.
Today's ruling could be more disruptive. The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on 3 August issued a stop-work order immediately halting construction of a major nearby natural gas pipeline, the 1.9 Bcf/d Mountain Valley project, after a court threw out a similar federal right-of-way needed to cross 3.5 miles of a national forest in Virginia.
The latest ruling affects a right-of-way permit the US National Park Service approved last December authorizing the project's developer to drill and install pipeline beneath the Blue Ridge Parkway, which follows the ridges of part of the Appalachian mountains. The pipeline will also need to clear a 125-foot path through nearby forests visible from the parkway during construction, which would narrow to a permanent 50-foot right-of-way once construction is complete.
The 4th Circuit said the federal permit offered no explanation as to how issuing the right-of-way would be consistent with the parkland's purposes or the conservation goals of the National Park System. This lack of explanation is "particularly troubling" because the National Park Service oversaw a visual impact study that found the project was likely inconsistent with the park's objectives, the court said.
