Mountain Valley Pipeline Owed State Explanation on Permit Denial

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality needs to take a second look and properly explain why it denied Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Clean Water Act permit, the Fourth Circuit ruled Thursday.

The department’s decision is consistent with its water standards and with the federal water law, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. But it failed to explain why it denied a certification for the pipeline instead of granting the certification with conditions, the court said.

Mountain Valley Pipeline seeks to build the Southgate Project. The project is a 75-mile natural gas pipeline that goes from ...