With the goal of the United States to provide more LNG (liquid natural gas) to Europe in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) remains mired in court cases, but that could change.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said during a virtual press briefing from her Washington office Thursday the pipeline is almost 95 percent complete but court cases related to federal permitting processes have delayed completion.
That has prompted her as well Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to try to streamline the approval regarding remaining court cases involving federal permitting.
“We see this as a stalling technique (by pipeline opponents), as a way to hope the investors and the company will go away like they did with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP),” Capito said.
In July 2020, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy canceled the $8 billion 600-mile natural gas ACP that would have transported natural gas from north central West Virginia to Lumberton, N.C. because of “legal uncertainty” after spending an estimated $4 billion on it.
Opponents of the MVP have expressed optimism the same fate could be met by the 303-mile, 42-inch diameter MVP, which would run from north central West Virginia to Chatham, Va., crossing Summers and Monroe counties in West Virginia and Giles County, Va.
The MVP initially had a $3.5 billion price tag and was scheduled to be in operation in late 2018. However, protests and court cases continue to delay the project, which is now estimated to cost $6.2 billion and may be finished by 2023.
Capito said the MVP is needed to meet demand here and in Europe, which now needs LNG (liquid natural gas) to replace the gas lost because of sanctions against Russia.
“We are looking at energy security and energy independence, our own resources, especially when you frame it up with what is going on in the Ukraine,” she said. “We have many, many pipelines existing in this country so this is not a new concept.”
The latest major setback for the MVP was a decision made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va. to invalidate approvals previously granted by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to construct the pipeline on federal land.
That includes Jefferson National Forest, which the MVP must pass through in Monroe and Giles Counties, with a total of about 3.5 miles on federal land involved. The pipeline also must run under the Appalachian Trail where it crosses along the ridge line of Peters Mountain in Monroe County.
“The company has asked if they can get it (this court case) in the D.C. court,” Capito said. “Most businesses don’t want to do that, but that tells you they will have a more objective hearing in the D.C. court. At the same time, we’ve got to make sure (federal agencies) move quicker and faster and fairer to make sure the proper environmental permits are permitted so they can finish this project.”
Capito said “it just makes common sense, in my view” because the pipeline is almost 95 percent complete and is needed.
“Our President has promised Europe more liquid natural gas (LNG),” she said. “Where is he going to get it from? He can get it from West Virginia if we had the infrastructure to manage that.”
Time is important, she added.
“It is frustrating to me to think it will possibly another year (before completion), and it’s another year the company can sit and spend and have an incomplete pipeline and not get any revenues,” she said. “We are trying to help as much as we can.”
Manchin has shown the same frustration.
“We cannot get a pipeline out of the Marcellus Shale (in north central West Virginia),” he said recently. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is 95 percent complete,. That means the pipeline is in the ground, covered and reclamation done (on the land above it). But they have been blocked. That pipeline must be connected to the market.”
Manchin also called for the 4th Circuit case in Richmond to be moved to the D.C. court.
“We need to ramp up (the supply of natural gas),” he said, and the Marcellus Shale is the “richest formation in the world.”
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2020 West Virginia produced 7.1 percent of the natural gas in the U.S. with Texas the most at 23.9 percent.
The Brookings Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said the U.S. LNG producers have been going all-out in response to high European prices and the United States became the world’s largest LNG exporter in January, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“In addition to undermining U.S. foreign policy, cutting back on LNG exports is unlikely to make much difference in prices at home,” Brookings said on its website. “The United States consistently enjoys some of the world’s lowest natural gas prices. U.S. LNG export capacity is expanding, but the United States has huge natural gas reserves and production is likely to expand along with export capacity. The world will eventually move away from natural gas as it transitions to a zero-carbon energy system, but the United States is likely to enjoy its price advantage in natural gas for the foreseeable future, even with expanding exports.”
The EIA said Russia has been providing about 40 percent of the natural gas needed by European countries, with the U.S. poised to help fill that void.
Opponents of the MVP have pointed out the impact on the environment, especially in areas like Monroe County which includes karst (underground limestone which has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes and other characteristic landforms), and also the dangers of a large-capacity pipeline that could leak or explode with the underground instability.
They also have questioned the eminent domain component, with many landowners not wanting the pipeline on their land but had no choice.
Opponents said the pipeline was not for the “public good,” but for corporate profit.
For Monroe County landowner Maury Johnson it’s also personal, a matter of fighting for the environment and rights.
Johnson has fought the MVP since it first surfaced in 2014 and here is his response when the ACP project was abandoned:
“Today is a great day for those people who have devoted their lives to educating the public and fighting for their water, air, and property, and to lead the way to a cleaner energy future,” Johnson. “But the job is only half finished. Today we enjoy this victory, but tomorrow we must double down our efforts, pull together and send MVP and the MVP Southgate to the scrap heap of bad ideas with the ACP.”