US court questions another Equitrans Mountain Valley natgas pipe permit

RGC Resources

26/05/2023 20:38

May 26 (Reuters) - U.S. energy company Equitrans
Midstream Corp's  ETRN.N  long-delayed $6.6 billion Mountain
Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia
received another negative court ruling on Friday.
    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit ruled the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) "inadequately explained its decision not to prepare a
supplemental environmental impact statement."
    The statement would address "unexpectedly severe erosion and
sedimentation along the pipeline’s right-of-way."
    The Court remanded the case back to FERC to either "prepare
a supplemental environmental impact statement or to better
explain why one is unnecessary."
    The case was brought by the Sierra Club and other
environmental groups opposed to the project.
    "We see this ruling as creating an additional hurdle to
restarting construction when (Mountain Valley) reacquires its
outstanding permits this year, as it could force a longer review
... and could push the project’s completion into 2024," said
analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, a research firm.
    Equitrans said it was reviewing the decision, without
providing any additional details. Its stock rose about 4% to a
12-week high of $6.14 per share in late Friday trading.
    In early May, it said it could finish the pipe by the end of
2023, but noted "there remains significant risk and uncertainty,
including regarding current and likely litigation."
    The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has vacated
several of the project's federal and state permits - some more
than once - is still hearing lawsuits, including a challenge
against authorizations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    Equitrans is waiting for new authorizations from the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and FERC.
    In addition to pursuing permitting the regular way,
Equitrans said it "continues to support the potential enactment
of federal energy infrastructure permitting reform legislation
that specifically requires completion of the (Mountain Valley)
project."
    When Mountain Valley construction started in February 2018,
Equitrans estimated the 303-mile (488-km),
2-billion-cubic-feet-per-day (bcfd) project would cost about
$3.5 billion and enter service by late 2018.
    Mountain Valley is owned by units of Equitrans, NextEra
Energy Inc  NEE.N , Consolidated Edison Inc  ED.N , AltaGas Ltd
 ALA.TO  and RGC Resources Inc  RGCO.O .

 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
 ((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 332 219 1922; Reuters
Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))