Dominion Energy has sent a request to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to commission its Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline project by 2022, i.e. two years after its expected commissioning date. The FERC approved the project in October 2017, authorising Dominion Energy to complete it by end-2020. The company is currently seeking to renew permits from the U. Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and expects to receive all regulatory approvals by end-2020. Earlier in June 2020, the US Supreme Court upheld a permit for the controversial Atlantic Coast gas pipeline project, ruling that the US Forest Service did have the authority to grant a right-of-way to allow the gas pipeline project to cross the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia, reversing a decision by the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The 1.5 bcf/d (15.5 bcm/year) Atlantic Coast gas pipeline project is developed by a joint venture of Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (Dominion Resources, 48%), Duke Energy ACP (40%), Piedmont NACP Company (a subsidiary of Duke Energy, 7%) and Maple Enterprise Holdings (an affiliate of Southern Company, 5%). The gas transmission project would deliver fracked gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to North Carolina and Virginia. The nearly US$8bn gas pipeline project entered construction in the spring of 2018. However, the construction was suspended in December 2018 due to a local opposition and legal challenges, and the project has been delayed.