(Washington, D.C.) — Developers want to flip the switch on the Mountain Valley Pipeline next month.
Equitrans, lead developer for the pipeline, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday. They want the 303-mile long pipeline to go into service before May 23rd. The goal is to have the pipeline operational by the first of June.
The estimated price tag is more than $7.5 billion. The original cost when the project was proposed a decade ago was around three-and-a-half billion.
The pipeline will carry fracked natural gas from the West Virginia shale fields to the TransCo Compressor Station in Pittsylvania County.
Earlier this year, a federal court shot down what could be the final legal hurdle for the pipeline. The D.C. Court of Appeals reaffirmed its earlier decision that a lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear a suit filed by landowners in Franklin, Montgomery and Roanoke counties. They challenged the pipeline’s use of eminent domain to take their property as part of the project.
The Congressional compromise which fast-tracked the Mountain Valley Pipeline last year also included a provision that moved all legal challenges to the project away from the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, to the D.C. Federal Court. The Fourth Circuit had twice stripped the pipeline of federal permits.
(Photo courtesy Nicholas Drone Service)