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U.S. Supreme Court to hear case regarding Atlantic Coast Pipeline

CHARLESTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a lower-court decision that halted work on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is in a 16-state coalition that urged the court to consider the case.

“West Virginia strongly supports the Supreme Court’s decision as it signals the court recognizes the profound importance of this case as a matter of federal law and economic impact to Appalachia and the nation as a whole,” Morrisey said in a statement Friday.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a 600-mile underground natural gas pipeline project that would deliver natural gas produced in West Virginia to markets in Virginia and North Carolina. The project is a partnership between Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Co. Gas.

The project came to a halt after the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in December that the U.S. National Forest Service could not issue permits to the project, which would have gone underneath the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, the George Washington National Forest in Virginia, and the Appalachian Trail. The appeal court declined to reconsider its decision.

The coalition led by Morrisey filed a brief with the Supreme Court in July, arguing that the 4th Circuit’s decision was flawed. The coalition also argue that letting the decision stand would convert the Appalachian Trail into a “near-impenetrable barrier to energy development.”

Other states in the coalition are Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

“We remain hopeful this decision is a precursor to ultimate victory and an end to the unnecessary delays that have negatively impacted the livelihoods of our working-class families and the services they receive,” he said.

The Southern Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club, two of several groups opposed to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, said they will file their own brief with the Supreme Court supporting the 4th Circuit decision.

“We will defend the lower court’s decision in this case,” both groups said in a joint statement. “The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a dangerous, costly, and unnecessary project and we won’t stand by while Duke and Dominion Energy try to force it on our public lands, threatening people’s health, endangered species, iconic landscapes, and clean water along the way.”

In West Virginia, the pipeline starts in Harrison County and would go through Lewis, Upshur, Randolph and Pocahontas counties. State revenue officials cite the halt to construction work on the pipeline and other similar projects to a decrease in withholding tax revenue.

Supporters estimate more than 4,000 jobs have been lost due to the halt in pipeline work.

(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)

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