Mountain Valley gas line under federal investigation

The Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline project in Virginia and West Virginia is under a federal criminal investigation for possible violations of the US Clean Water Act.

Project developer EQM said in filing late last week it received a grand jury subpoena on 11 February from the US Attorney's office in the Western District of Virginia requesting documents related to construction of the 1.9 Bcf/d (54mn m³/d) project dated from August 2018 to the present day.

The company said the project joint venture is complying with the subpoena but added that it "cannot predict whether any action will ultimately be brought" or what the outcome would be.

Pennsylvania-based EQM is the midstream subsidiary of producer EQT.

An unrelated case involving the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)'s environmental review of Mountain Valley was dismissed today by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The court decided FERC adequately considered and disclosed environmental impacts from the project, and that the commission's conclusion that there is a market need for the project was supported by evidence.

The project has had multiple regulatory delays in recent months amid pushback from environmentalists and some state regulators. FERC in early August temporarily halted work on the line because of risks of disturbing the environment, and a West Virginia circuit court in September stopped construction on the line where it would cross a river in that state. A US court in October scrapped a key water crossing permit for the line, and the project lost more water crossing permits later that month.

EQT in September boosted its cost estimate for the project to $4.6bn amid construction stops caused by federal and state regulators, making it one of the costliest large scale natural gas pipeline expansions in the US northeast.

Mountain Valley is designed to increase takeaway capacity from the prolific Appalachian shale region and would extend 303 miles (488km) from West Virginia to Virginia. The project is scheduled to begin service in the fourth quarter.