Controversial Pipeline Backed by Manchin Is Put on Hold by Court

“We continue to evaluate all legal options, which include filing emergency appeals to the US Supreme Court,” Equitrans said in a statement Wednesday. “Unless these decisions are promptly reversed, they would jeopardize Mountain Valley’s ability to complete construction by year-end 2023.”

The decision, backed by two orders from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, comes despite language in recently enacted debt-ceiling legislation that was intended to prevent the pipeline from being stalled by the court, which has repeatedly ruled against the project resulting in years of delay. Among other setbacks: throwing out a permit issued by Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality and a move in January to vacate permits by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

The debt-ceiling language deemed the pipeline in the public interest and as long as the project sponsor adheres to its permits, it may not be litigated, said Christi Tezak, a managing director with Washington-based consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners. “It means the in-process litigation at the 4th Circuit dies,” Tezak said in an interview. “It must be dismissed.”

While this week’s rulings may prove to be the last wrenches the Fourth Circuit throws into the project, they could have a lasting impact.

“It seems unlikely that the 4th Circuits’ actions would stand up to scrutiny,” Height Securities LLC said in a note to clients. “However, legal remedies such as a motion to reconsider, a motion to transfer to the DC Circuit or an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court are typically slow ranging from weeks to more than a year.”

Operations would need to resume around mid-July for a chance at completion before the end of the 2023 construction season, Height said, adding that the court orders mean the pipeline is unlikely to meet its in-service goal “unless reversed promptly.”

The roughly 300-mile pipeline is designed to cut through the Appalachian Mountains, a national forest and hundreds of stream crossings as it carries natural gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia, and has drawn fierce opposition from environmental activists.

“We’re grateful that the Court has given those communities a measure of reprieve by hitting the brakes on construction across our public lands, sparing them from further irreversible damage while this important case proceeds,” said Ben Tettlebaum, a senior staff attorney at The Wilderness Society, one of the groups challenging the pipeline.

Equitrans shares climbed 1.6% as of 12:26 p.m. in New York after falling 4.8% in Tuesday trading.