New Lawsuit Against Mountain Valley Pipe Seeks to Emasculate FERC

In June, a group of radical “environmental” organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit against the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection--for doing their job (see Radicals File Lawsuit Against WV DEP for Approving MV Pipeline). Sierra Club, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Appalachian Voices and Chesapeake Climate Action Network sued the DEP because the department had the audacity to conduct a thorough review, and then issue a stream and water-crossing permit (demanded under federal law) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). MVP is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. A second lawsuit has now been filed in federal court to block the MVP project--this time from anti-pipeline residents from West Virginia and Virginia. This second lawsuit is even more insidious than the first. The new lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, VA (full copy below), seeks to block the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from doing its job by issuing a certificate to approve MVP. The suers claim FERC would be violating the U.S. Constitution by approving a private project that "takes" private land without just compensation. The suers maintain that according to the Constitution, land can only be taken for "public use" and that the pipeline is for private use, not for the public good. That's the claim. If these virulent antis win this case, it would emasculate FERC--take away its authority to approve major interstate pipeline projects. We don't give the case much of a chance, but hey, one never knows...

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