The federal Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., set back the $6.2-billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline as it nears completion in Virginia and West Virginia, when judges on Jan. 25 tossed out federal agency environmental approvals of a project water crossing in a national forest—for the second time—saying they failed to take into account “real world data.”

The court previously sent assessments by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Interior Dept.'s Bureau of Land Management back to the agencies for violations of the National Environmental Policy Act. “We directed the Forest Service to more thoroughly analyze the pipeline’s sedimentation impacts,” the court said.

A new supplemental impact review prepared by the agencies used two hydrological analyses provided by Mountain Valley Partners, the project developers, but it did not consider U.S. Geological Survey water-quality monitoring data that showed water turbidity values 20% higher downstream of the pipeline’s construction than upstream—“a significant difference from the 2.1% increase in sedimentation the hydrologic analyses predicted for the Roanoke River,” the court said.

In not including the USGS data, the agencies "entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem,” the court said, adding that the omission means "modeling used in the EIS may not be consistent with ... the actual impact of the pipeline and its construction.”

这个304英里的项目几乎完全建成，但正在等待越过弗吉尼亚州杰斐逊国家森林3.5英里的许可，以及其他批准。该线路最初定于2018年完成，耗资37亿美元。

该管道是EQM Midstream Partners LP的合资企业；Nextera Capital Holdings Inc.；CON EDISON TRANSIBLING INC。WGL中游；和RGC Midstream LLC。

Precision Pipeline, a subsidiary of energy contractor MasTec, is building the project. Mountain Valley Partners would not confirm other members of the construction team.

联邦能源监管委员会于2017年10月批准了该项目，尽管塞拉俱乐部和其他环境组织在几个法院面临挑战，但仍允许建设该项目。

FERC’s approval survived legal challenges, but now the agency must consider the owners' request to change its stream-crossing method. FERC’s ruling could be guided by a new agency pipeline policy expected to require stricter project reviews. The new guidance, developed under the commission's 3-2 Democrat majority, is expected within weeks.

最终的问题是,这个项目会l obtain federal permits and construction will finish. The agencies will consider environmental effects again, but this time under the Biden administration. Mountain Valley's two previous environmental reviews were prepared during the Trump administration.

彭博·劳（Bloomberg Law）说，项目完成将是该行业的重大胜利，并指出开发商有能力与该项目通过其法律挑战依靠该项目的几名托运人签订合同证明了消费者的利益。

At least one industry analyst gives the project just a 5% probability of being cancelled.

环保组织表示，不需要该管道，最近取消了几个主要的东北天然气项目，包括从宾夕法尼亚州到新泽西州的116英里的卫生管道；新利18备用网址从西弗吉尼亚州到北卡罗来纳州的600英里大西洋海岸管道；还有121英里的宪法管道将从宾夕法尼亚州东北部到纽约中部。