Mountain Valley Pipeline
Shale Law Weekly Review – Week of May 10, 2021
Pipelines: North Carolina DEQ Reissues Clean Water Act Certification Denial for Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Southgate Project ⚡
On April 29, 2021, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Division of Water Resources announced its second denial of 401 Water Quality Certification and Jordan Lake Buffer Authorization for the Southgate Extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). DEQ’s reissuance of denial follows the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s March 2021 vacatur and remand of the agency’s August 2020 denial, which instructed DEQ to “explain why the Department chose denial over conditional certification.” […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – February 25, 2020
Water Quality: Study Examines Hydraulic Fracturing and Pennsylvania Watersheds
On February 3, 2020, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published a study that focused on shale gas development in 25 watersheds over a two-year period. The Pennsylvania State Forests (PASF) area was chosen for the study because the area has “few other potential anthropogenic stressors” on streams while containing a “gradient of shale gas development under a consistent regulatory structure.” The researchers found no chemical or microbial impact or connection between hydraulic fracturing and the watersheds. The study, however, did identify a possible relationship between sediment caused by […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – October 28, 2019
Pipelines: FERC Orders Immediate Suspension of All Construction Activities Relating to the Mountain Valley Pipeline
On October 15, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a cease work order for certain activities relating to the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline following a stay of the 2017 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (Wild Virginia, Inc. v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, No. 19-1866). The court issued the stay on October 11, 2019, to allow FWS and FERC to have a re-consultation to […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – October 21, 2019
Pipelines: U.S. Court of Appeals Issues Stay in Case Relating to the Mountain Valley Pipeline
On October 11, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stayed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Biological Opinion (BiOp) and Incidental Take Statement (ITS) issued in November 2017 for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline project, pending the outcome of the case before the court (Wild Virginia, Inc. v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, No. 19-1866). On August 21, 2019, a group of environmental organizations petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking judicial review of these two FWS documents. The petitioners […]
Mountain Valley Pipeline: Overview of Litigation Regarding the Pipeline Construction (Part 4)
Written by Chloe Marie – Research Specialist
The Mountain Valley Pipeline Project consists of a proposed 303-mile interstate pipeline system designed to transport natural gas from Wetzel County in northwestern West Virginia to Pittsylvania County in southern Virginia. This article is the fourth in a four-part series addressing legal issues and the regulatory process associated with the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project to date. On October 15, 2019, we posted an article reviewing the timeline of actions taken by various federal and state regulatory entities involved with the construction of the pipeline. On October 16, 2019, and October 17, 2019, […]
Mountain Valley Pipeline: Overview of Litigation Regarding the Pipeline Construction (Part 3)
Written by Chloe Marie – Research Specialist
The Mountain Valley Pipeline Project consists of a proposed 303-mile interstate pipeline system designed to transport natural gas from Wetzel County in northwestern West Virginia to Pittsylvania County in southern Virginia. This article is the third in a planned four-part series addressing legal issues and the regulatory process associated with the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project to date. On October 15, 2019, we posted an article reviewing the timeline of actions taken by various federal and state regulatory entities involved with the construction of the pipeline. On October 16, 2019, we posted a
Mountain Valley Pipeline: Overview of Litigation Regarding the Pipeline Construction (Part 2)
Written by Chloe Marie – Research Specialist
The Mountain Valley Pipeline Project consists of a proposed 303-mile interstate pipeline system designed to transport natural gas from Wetzel County in northwestern West Virginia to Pittsylvania County in southern Virginia. This article is the second in a planned four-part series addressing legal issues and the regulatory process associated with the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project to date. On October 15, 2019, we posted an article reviewing the timeline of actions taken by various federal and state regulatory entities involved with the construction of the pipeline. This article and two planned subsequent articles […]
Mountain Valley Pipeline: Overview of Federal and State Regulatory Approval Processes (Part 1)
Written by Chloe Marie – Research Specialist
The Mountain Valley Pipeline Project consists of a proposed 303-mile interstate pipeline system designed to transport natural gas from Wetzel County in northwestern West Virginia to Pittsylvania County in southern Virginia. The pipeline will carry a capacity of approximately 2 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of natural gas and is expected to cross the following counties: Braxton, Doddridge, Fayette, Greenbrier, Harrison, Lewis, Monroe, Nicholas, Summers, Webster, and Wetzel in West Virginia; and Craig, Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke in Virginia. This project also involves the construction of three compressor […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – August 19, 2019
GHG Emissions: States, Environmental Groups File Lawsuit Challenging EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule
On August 13, 2019, several states filed a Petition for Review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule (State of New York v. EPA, No. 19-1165). Several environmental groups filed a similar Petition the next day on August 14th (Appalachian Mountain Club v. EPA, No. 19-1166). The Affordable Clean Energy Rule, officially titled, Repeal of the Clean Power Plan; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Electric Utility Generating Units; Revisions […]
Shale Law Weekly Review – August 12, 2019
Pipelines: Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Issues Stop Work Instruction for Mountain Valley Pipeline
On August 2, 2019, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a stop work instruction for a section of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. According to the instruction, an inspection conducted by DEQ on August 1, 2019, found an “imminent and substantial adverse impact to water quality” due to construction of the pipeline in Montgomery County, Virginia. DEQ asserts that the pipeline failed to control erosion and sediment in the area of construction. The instruction named corrective measures to be taken including the installation of […]
