By Charles Young, The Exponent Telegram
WASHINGTON, DC — Proponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline are lauding the final authorization needed to put the long-delayed project into service.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted the project’s developer’s request to begin operating the pipeline in a letter issued late Tuesday. That is the final step in the natural gas pipeline’s decade-long development, which saw its cost balloon by billions after repeated halts and delays caused by lawsuits from environmental groups and other opponents.
Seeing the pipeline in service after so many years is a victory in and of itself, said Charlie Burd, executive director of the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia.
“Pipelines are essential energy infrastructure that facilitate the safe and efficient transport of natural gas across regions, and Mountain Valley Pipeline’s completion is a significant win for millions of Americans,” he said.
However, the project’s progress was repeatedly impeded by “frivolous lawsuits and bureaucratic red tape” and “ultimately required an act of Congress to finalize,” Burd said.
“At its core, the MVP underscores the challenges (that) infrastructure — energy pipelines, electric transmission, roads, etc. — faces in building critical projects that are necessary to economic growth, electric reliability and environmental progress. For the good of our country, policymakers must do everything in their power to ensure the permitting delays MVP faced don’t become the norm,” he said.
Gov. Jim Justice, during his Wednesday press briefing, said the authorization was welcome news.
