(Carolina Journal) – The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond will not block a 55-mile natural gas pipeline project from moving forward in North Carolina and Virginia amid environmental groups challenging a federal water permit.
The decision clears the way for the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line project – dubbed the Southeast Supply Enhancement Program – to move forward during litigation over a permit issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
A three-judge panel was unanimous in the five-page order rejecting the environmental groups’ request for a stay in the legal dispute.
“The merits turn on whether the Corps’ issuance of the section 404 permit was arbitrary and capricious,” according to Monday’s order. “Petitioners argue it was for two reasons. Neither persuades.”
The timing of the environmental groups’ request “cautions against granting relief,” the judges added. “Construction on the project began in early March and has continued since then. On this record, we decline to hit pause.”
Chief Judge Albert Diaz and Judges Paul Niemeyer and Marvin Quattlebaum heard oral arguments in the case on May 13.
The project is designed to provide natural gas to Duke Energy customers. The North Carolina portion of the project involves “28.4 miles of pipeline looping adjacent to existing Transco corridors located in Rockingham, Guilford, Forsyth and Davidson counties and additional compressor units in Cleveland, Iredell and Davidson counties,” according to the pipeline’s pipeline’s operator.
Environmental groups Appalachian Voices, Haw River Assembly, 7 Directions of Service, Sierra Club, and Wild Virginia are fighting a permit the Army Corps of Engineers issued in February. Critics say neither Transco nor the Army Corps provided enough documentation supporting plans to use “dry-ditch, open-cut” methods of crossing streams affected by the pipeline.
The groups sought a stay from the 4th Circuit that would have blocked the pipeline project throughout the appeal process.
