Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Regulation
Fourth Circuit Allows Work on Mountain Valley Pipe to Continue
Earlier this month the Sierra Club filed yet another lawsuit (we’ve lost count of how many they’ve filed) attempting to block construction of the final 8% of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Clubbers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to “temporarily” block a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see Sierra Club Files Another Lawsuit to Block MVP’s FWS Permit). Earlier this week the court declined, meaning MVP can continue working over the winter.
Read More “Fourth Circuit Allows Work on Mountain Valley Pipe to Continue”
Believe it or not, there are still two environmentalist wackos living up a tree in Montgomery County, Virginia, preventing work crews for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from cutting trees to clear a path for the pipeline. This has been going on for years and frankly, everyone is tired of it. A county judge has found the two cowards not willing to reveal their names (known as Tree-sitter 1 and Tree-sitter 2) in contempt of court. Starting today if they don’t come down, they are both on the hook for a $500 per day fine.
This has been going on for more than a year. Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has not been able to finish a project that is now 92% in the ground and complete because of repeated lawsuits by the Sierra Club and colluding leftist Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The delays are costing MVP $20 million per month! Yesterday the clowns did it yet again. They blocked a Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) that was reissued by the Army Corps of Engineers after being reworked because of an earlier rejection by the same court. NWP12 would allow the pipeline to cross creeks and rivers and wetlands.
The Sierra Club, backed with money from Russia (see 
Equitrans Midstream, the lead partner and builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, announced yesterday it has (once again) pushed back the in-service date for the pipeline, from 1Q21 to the second half of 2021 (meaning by December), and pushed up the cost of the project, from $5.4 billion to as high as $6 billion. You can thank the jobs-and-economy-destroying Sierra Club for the delays and increase in cost.
Although the big news from yesterday is that EQT is rumored to be eyeing a takeover of CNX Resources (see our lead story today), EQT released its third-quarter 2020 update yesterday with news almost as big. EQT previously announced it is looking to sell its right to ship gas along the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Yesterday the company said it believes a sale of its MVP capacity will happen by the end of this year.
Late Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to restart work on all but a 25-mile segment of the 92% completed project (see 
After more than a year of being on pause due to lawsuits from Big Green groups, the 92%-complete Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) finally has permission to resume construction in West Virginia and Virginia. Late Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted permission to MVP to restart work on all but a 25-mile segment. We suspect workers are back on the job even as you read this.
Anti-fossil fuelers have struck out again with another of their wild claims about pipelines poisoning the environment. Antis alleged steel pipes coated with epoxy (that had to sit in storage on location for years due to sham lawsuits by Big Green groups), are not safe. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) says otherwise.
Almost two weeks ago Equitrans Midstream sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting they be allowed to restart construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, construction which has been suspended since October 2019 (see 
This one was easy to predict. Back in August we told you that the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project was attempting to buy some love from the radical anti-fossil left by donating $19.5 million to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to “conserve land along the Trail corridor and support outdoor recreation-based economies in Virginia and West Virginia” (see 
Equitrans Midstream, which used to be part of EQT as EQT Midstream, is still EQT’s main squeeze when it comes to gathering pipelines connected to its wells. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced yesterday it has fined Equitrans $427,650 for “slips, stabilization, and erosion and sedimentation violations at pipeline sites in Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.”
Some fantastic news to share. Last Friday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reissued the second of three necessary permits required to finally finish the 92% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project in Virginia and West Virginia. The Army Corps reissued a permit they previously issued (but got overturned by Big Green groups in court), a Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12, allowing the project to cross over or under some 1,000 or so creeks, rivers, and wetlands.
On Tuesday Equitrans Midstream sent the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) an official letter (called a filing) politely requesting FERC get off its collective rear end and grant permission to resume construction activities for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) so they can complete certain kinds of work before winter sets in. Equitrans requested an order allowing work to resume no later than…tomorrow!