Developer of much-embattled $7.2B natural gas line in Va. and W.Va says redesigned $370M addition eliminates a compressor station and needed water crossings.
Amid site protest arrests, a Richmond, Va. appeals court panel admits its cancelled jurisdiction to rule on suits seeking to stop the $6.6 billion gas line's completion, but route landowners are pressing another court to keep their eminent domain lawsuit alive.
Developer CEO tells analysts Aug. 1 it will finish last 20 miles of 303-mile natural gas line by year end, after high court reverses lower court halt of just-resumed work on controversial project still being litigated
The "right-to-control theory" used by federal prosecutors "cannot form the basis for a conviction under federal fraud statutes,” Justice Clarence Thomas said in the unanimous opinion, with the high court also ruling on disputes related to the controversial Mountain Valley gas pipeline and to state mandates affecting interstate commerce.
West Virginia approval was vacated by a Richmond, Va., federal court, which cited errors and ordered a permit redo for the 303-mile line from the Marcellus shale region in the currently halted project's latest legal battle.
Mastec-built Virginia to W.Va. natural gas project, set to operate in summer, faces unclear delay as feds must reassess its water crossings in a national forest.
Virginia narrowly OKs controversial water crossing permit in a 107-mile portion of the 373-mile route also in West Virginia and North Carolina, but two federal approvals remain
Agency says the Virginia pipeline does not do enough to mitigate impacts on hundreds of stream crossings still ahead for 303-mile project, even at 92% completion.
