September 2019, Vol. 246, No. 9
Projects
US Court Vacates Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline Permit
A permit allowing Dominion Energy to build the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina has been vacated by an appeals court.
Dominion suspended construction of the long-delayed project in early December after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., stayed the Fish and Wildlife Service’s permit.
The court found the Fish and Wildlife Service “fast-tracked” its decision to reissue an incidental take statement in 2018, concerning areas inhabited by threatened or endangered species. The decision came 19 days after federal energy regulators resumed formal consultation with the agency following the court’s decision to stay a version of the permit from 2017, 4th Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory said in the court’s opinion.
“In fast-tracking its decisions, the agency appears to have lost sight of its mandate under the (Endangered Species Act),” Gregory said, adding the decisions in granting the 2018 incidental take statement were “arbitrary and capricious.”
When Dominion started work on the 600-mile pipe in the spring of 2018, the company said it would cost about $6.5 billion and be completed in late 2019. P&GJ
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