North Carolina (United States) has denied water quality certification for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for its MVP Southgate gas pipeline project that would extend the route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline from southern Virginia to central North Carolina.
MVP plans to commission its long-delayed 1.9 bcf/d (20 bcm/year) MVP gas pipeline project from Wetzel County (West Virginia) to Pittsylvania County (Virginia) in early 2021 and to build an extension of the gas pipeline to the Rockingham and Alamance Counties in North Carolina by the end of 2021. In June 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a lower court decision regarding the U.S. Forest Service's authority to grant a right-of-way to cross the Appalachian Trail. The positive ruling clears the path for MVP's Appalachian Trail crossing. The US$5.4bn project, whose total costs may rise by 5%, still needs to secure some authorisation to resume construction.
Mountain Valley Pipeline is a joint venture (JV) made of five companies, namely MVP Holdco (EQT Corporation), US Marcellus Gas Infrastructure (NextEra Energy Capital Holdings), Con Edison Gas Midstream, WGL Midstream and RGC Midstream.