Updated 4:10 p.m. April 23: This story has been updated with comments from Mountain Valley Pipeline and environmental groups.
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Eight environmental groups have filed a petition in federal court challenging regulators’ approval of a planned extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, arguing that the project’s scope has changed so much that an earlier approval is no longer relevant.
The pipeline developers’ latest plans for the MVP Southgate extension from Pittsylvania County into North Carolina call for a shorter route and a wider pipe to transport nearly twice as much gas as previously planned. Developers have also abandoned plans for a new compressor station in Pittsylvania.
The eight groups say those changes mean that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees construction of interstate gas pipelines, must take another look at MVP Southgate. On Dec. 19, just 10 days before pipeline developers notified FERC of their new plans, the federal agency gave the project three more years to finish by extending a necessary certificate.
“How can FERC justify its extension of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for a project with a route, purpose and impact that are different from what was previously approved in the original certificate?” Appalachian Voices North Carolina Program Manager Ridge Graham said in a news release. “This is a wholly new project, and Mountain Valley Pipeline should be required to start the process from the beginning.”
Besides Appalachian Voices, the petition filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit involves the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Haw River Assembly, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and Wild Virginia.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline project, first announced in 2014 and now estimated to cost upwards of $7.6 billion, is intended to transport natural gas 303 miles from West Virginia through six counties in Virginia, ending at a compressor station in Pittsylvania County.
MVP Southgate was first announced in 2018 and now has an estimated price tag of $370 million. It originally was set to run 75 miles from where the main pipeline ends in Pittsylvania County into two North Carolina counties and incorporate a new compressor station in Pittsylvania.
But in December, the company behind the project modified its plans to shorten the route to 31 miles, increase the pipe diameter from 24 to 30 inches and drop its plan for the new Pittsylvania compressor station. Compressor stations are located along natural gas pipeline routes to increase the gas pressure and keep it moving.
Equitrans Midstream, the lead developer of the pipeline joint venture, said it made the changes after securing new contracts with gas customers.
For years, both the main Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Southgate extension have faced opposition from landowners, conservationists and others over the projects’ impact on the environment and use of eminent domain to acquire private land. Pipeline supporters have said that the projects are in the public interest and will meet a demand for natural gas.
David Sligh, conservation director for Wild Virginia, said in the environmental groups’ news release Tuesday that approving the Southgate project is “irresponsible.”
“This project will pose the same kinds of threats of damage to the environment and the people along its path as we have seen caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the last six years,” he said. “FERC has again failed to protect the public interest, instead favoring a profit-making corporation.”
Mountain Valley Pipeline spokesperson Shawn Day said that MVP Southgate would help diversify the natural gas supply in North Carolina and meet a demand that is growing as the state’s population continues to grow.
As evidence of that demand, he noted that MVP Southgate’s planned capacity is already fully subscribed under long-term contracts.
“It is disappointing but not surprising to see opponents of critical energy infrastructure like the MVP Southgate project continue to use misinformation and delay tactics to try and deny families and businesses from access to reliable, affordable and cleaner energy,” Day said. “Pipelines are the safest way to transport fuel, and the evidence demonstrating the need for the MVP Southgate project is indisputable.”
A FERC spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday, saying the agency does not comment on matters before the courts.
Meanwhile, on Monday, developers asked FERC to approve operation of the main Mountain Valley Pipeline no later than May 23 so it can be in service before its contracts with customers take effect June 1.
Developers said in a letter to FERC that they have nearly finished building the pipeline, including having completed all water body and wetland crossings. “Final restoration” work — post-construction cleanup and repair of the land — remains to be done on more than 100 miles of the 303-mile route.
If FERC grants its approval, gas will begin flowing through the Mountain Valley Pipeline 10 years after the project was first announced with an initial goal of being completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The pipeline was delayed for years by legal and permitting challenges until Congress this past summer passed a law shielding it from nearly all further challenges.Six Southwest Virginia landowners still hope the U.S. Supreme Court will hear their case regarding Mountain Valley’s use of eminent domain to seize their property.