Atlantic Coast gas pipeline loses permit appeal

A federal appeals court will not reconsider a decision that the developer of the $7bn Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline has warned would "imperil" pipeline construction from Georgia to Maine.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, in a short order today, declined requests to reconsider its decision throwing out a key federal permit allowing the 1.4 Bcf/d (40mn m³/d) project to cut a path through two national forests and a major hiking trail. The order said no judges on the court had requested a poll on whether to grant a rehearing.

The decision marks a setback for pipeline developer Dominion Energy and others in the industry that worry the ruling could impede pipeline construction in the eastern US. Their concern centers on how the appeals court viewed the government's management of land along the 2,200-mile Appalachian hiking trail.

The 4th Circuit in its ruling said the US Forest Service was unable to grant a right-of-way across the hiking trail, as the agency had done, because it is managed as a national park rather than as a forest. Dominion in a rehearing request last month said the ruling would "imperil" new pipelines and require congressional approval on at least half the length of the Appalachian trail.

The US Forest Service earlier this month also petitioned the court to reconsider the decision. The developer of the 1.9 Bcf/d Mountain Valley pipeline, which follows a similar path as the Atlantic Coast pipeline, filed a "friends of the court" brief echoing concerns that the ruling could disrupt its project.

Dominion Energy did not respond for comment. Company executives, on an earnings call earlier this month, repeatedly raised the possibility of appealing the decision to the US Supreme Court. This approach would increase project costs by $250mn, to $7.25bn-7.75bn, and delay completion of the project until the end of 2021, they said.