U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is cheering the completion of a project she has supported for the past decade.

Capito has unwaveringly championed the Mountain Valley Pipeline throughout its tumultuous development.

“Sen. Capito has consistently supported the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, has fought to ensure it becomes operational and is looking forward to the boost it will provide for American energy producers, workers and consumers once it is in service,” said a spokesperson.

Equitrans Midstream Corp., MVP’s developers, requested authorization from the Federal Energy Regulator Commission on Monday to put the 303-mile natural gas pipeline into service.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline on Tuesday.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation, told FERC officials it had no objections to authorizing the operator to being service, The Associated Press reported.

“We find that Mountain Valley has adequately stabilized the areas disturbed by construction, and that restoration and stabilization of the construction work area is proceeding satisfactorily,” Terry Turpin, director of FERC’s Office of Energy Projects, said in a letter to the pipeline’s lead developer, Equitrans Midstream Corp., according to various reports.

The Mountain Valley project was first announced in 2014 at a cost of around $3.5 billion and had an expected completion date at the end of 2018.

In the intervening years, the project has faced repeated delays and work stoppages due to legal challenges brought by environmental groups and other opponents. The total project cost is now anticipated to be approximately $7.85 billion.

Following a period of inactivity, the project was allowed to resume construction last summer after mandates for its completion were included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

The package, passed by Congress at the beginning of June following an impasse over raising the nation’s borrowing limit, required that all federal permits needed for the stalled pipeline to resume construction be issued and for legal challenges against the project to be dropped.

Despite these requirements, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shortly thereafter issued a stay halting work. The stay was later lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Capito, who has repeatedly advocated for reforms to the process of issuing federal permits for energy projects, has said the situation with the Mountain Valley Pipeline underscores the need to tighten the time frame in which legal challenges against such projects can be brought.

“This is highlighting a serious problem, and that is the window of judicial appeals and people having issues and being able to apply to apply for relief. Keep that always available, but have it within a constrained period of time. This can go on six, seven and eight years. Let’s do 90 days, let’s do 120 days — something in that range — where you know that after that point, you’re in the clear,” Capito said last year.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., has said seeing substantive permitting reform passed is his “final goal” before he leaves Congress next year.