The Mountain Valley Pipeline is largely completed, the company said Monday in requesting federal approval for it to be placed in service.
Although some work remains, the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue an order by May 23 that would allow it to begin operations.
“Mountain Valley has completed all waterbody and wetland crossings project-wide,” Matthew Eggerding, deputy general counsel for the joint venture building the natural gas pipeline, wrote in a letter filed late Monday to the FERC docket.
The news marked a near-final milestone for the project, which has been delayed repeatedly over the last six years by controversy and lawsuits that took issue with its environmental impact.
“We are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real time; the reckless MVP is barreling towards completion,” Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights coalition, said in a statement.
For years, POWHR and other organizations – from small community groups to environmental heavyweights such as the Sierra Club – tied the project up in litigation, slowing construction and helping to push its cost to nearly $7.6 billion, about twice the original estimate.
Mountain Valley found salvation last spring, when Congress passed a law declaring it to be in the national interest.
The law largely limited future legal action and fast-tracked completion of the 303-mile buried pipeline that winds through the mountains of West Virginia and Southwest Virginia.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is shown at its crossing of the Blue Grass Trail (Virginia 42) in Newport in Giles County on March 5.
MATT GENTRY, The Roanoke Times
In his letter Monday, Eggerding wrote that timely authorization by FERC “is critical to allow Mountain Valley to finalize in-service preparations and Project customers to make final preparations for supplies, scheduling, and nominations.”
The five energy companies building the pipeline include a subsidiary of RGC Resources, the parent company of Roanoke Gas Co. The state-regulated business says it needs more natural gas to meet existing demand and expand its service into Franklin County.
The pipeline’s customers have long-term contracts that become effective June 1, Eggerding wrote.
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a critical infrastructure project that is essential for our nation’s energy security, consumer affordability, and the ability to effectively transition to a lower-carbon future, and we look forward to bringing the Project into service,” the letter stated.
When construction resumed last summer, a key concern was that a protective coating on the pipes, meant to guard them from corrosion once they were buried, had been weakened by exposure to the elements as unfinished sections of pipe remained above ground for years.
In October, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration issued a consent order addressing what it called “an integrity risk to public safety, property or the environment.”
Mountain Valley was directed to follow an extensive process of inspecting the pipes and making repairs when necessary, under the watch of an independent firm that would report back to PHMSA.
All aspects of the consent order regarding the pipeline’s coating have been satisfied, Eggerding wrote in his letter. Mountain Valley plans to notify FERC when other requirements are met, the letter stated.
While nearly 1,000 crossings of streams and wetlands have been completed – one of the most time-consuming parts of the massive construction project – Mountain Valley still has work to do. The company “expects all remaining segments to be welded by early May and all Project facilities to be mechanically complete by May 22,” Eggerding wrote.
Earlier this month, a Mountain Valley spokeswoman declined to provide an update on the progress of construction. Natalie Cox referred The Roanoke Times to weekly status reports filed with FERC, which often provide dated information.
The most recent report, which covered the week that ended April 7, indicated that work was still in progress to bore a tunnel under the Appalachian Trail for the pipeline as it crests Peters Mountain and enters Virginia in Giles County.
Of the approximately 600-foot-long tunnel that will pass below the scenic hiking trail, about 550 feet had been accomplished, according to the report.
Closer to Roanoke, boring under the Roanoke River near the Montgomery County community of Elliston has been completed.
In the New River and Roanoke Valleys, as well as other sections of the pipeline, Mountain Valley has been cited repeatedly over the years by environmental regulators for violating erosion and sediment control regulations.
“Now they want to run methane gas through their degraded pipes and shoddy work,” Chisholm said. “The MVP is a glaring human rights violation that is indicative of the widespread failures of our government to act on the climate crisis in service of the fossil fuel industry.”
Energy News Beat