U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm publicly vouched again for completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which runs across West Virginia counties to deliver natural gas to eastern markets.
“We know there is a real desire to have energy security in areas where there is huge demand for power. We also know we have got to accelerate investment in clean (energy),” Granholm said during an energy summit sponsored by Politico, a publication that focuses on politics and power.
“While we still have to have pipelines and pipelines for CO2 and hydrogen as well, we want to make sure that we are also accelerating the clean.”
We're interviewing Secretary Jennifer Granholm on America's energy future. Let's talk about permitting reforms, our energy grid, China and more. #POLITICOEnergy https://t.co/rgPMDGjvQ9
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The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a proposed 303.5-mile interstate natural gas pipeline that would cross nine West Virginia counties to transport natural gas to East Coast markets. The pipeline’s developers have said they intend to bring the pipeline into service in the second half of 2023.
The $6.6 billion pipeline project first got authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017, but its completion has been delayed by regulatory hurdles and court challenges.
Granholm last month submitted a letter to regulators in support of completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Granholm asked for any remaining FERC action to proceed expeditiously.
“There’s been court challenges along the way,” Granholm said today at the Politico summit. “But I think it’s on a path to do that.”
This week, the U.S. Forest Service approved Mountain Valley Pipeline’s passage about three and a half miles through the Jefferson National Forest through West Virginia and into Virginia.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has twice knocked down earlier Forest Service approvals for the pipeline, in 2018 and then again last year.
The latest decision by the U.S. Forest Service includes an updated environmental impact statement that includes newly listed protected species and other matters that were cited by appeals judges when the second permit was struck down last year.
The Forest Service decision includes a condition prohibiting pipeline construction activity in the Jefferson National Forest until the company “has obtained all Federal and State authorization outstanding for the entire project.” So, pipeline construction in the forest cannot immediately resume.
Additional authorizations still need to come from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
Environmental groups like the Appalachian Voices regional advocacy organization said the decision will result in harm to biodiversity and lands held in the public trust.
“This is a uniquely risky project for environmental reasons. The steepness of the route is treacherous,” Peter Anderson, Virginia Policy Director for Appalachian Voices said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“We’ve got the federal government themselves saying that nearly 75 percent of the project’s route is through areas that are considered moderately high or high landslide risk, so that’s where a lot of the problems come from on the permitting side.”
Anderson said there’s plenty to be critical of with the pipeline project.
“This is a project where there’s something for everyone to dislike, whether it’s the climate impacts or the water and soil and forest impacts or the endangered species impact — or a lot of folks oppose this project because they view it as an abuse of government power.”