Mountain Valley Pipeline asks US Supreme Court to lift stay on pipeline construction News
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Mountain Valley Pipeline asks US Supreme Court to lift stay on pipeline construction

Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) LLC asked Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday to vacate a stay imposed by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit halting the construction of one of the last portions of a 303-mile natural gas pipeline running from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia.

MVP asserts that the Fourth Circuit lacked jurisdiction to impose the order. Specifically, MVP alleges that §324(e) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 “strips” jurisdiction away from the Fourth Circuit. MVP says that it has received the necessary authorizations from the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to complete the pipeline’s construction through the Jefferson National Forest. Additionally, MVP argues that §324(e) is constitutional, and Congress had the authority to grant the D.C. Circuit exclusive jurisdiction over such matters. §324(e) states:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no court shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken by the Secretary of the Army, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, or a State administrative agency acting pursuant to Federal law that grants an authorization, permit, verification, biological opinion, incidental take statement, or any other approval necessary for the construction and initial operation at full capacity of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, including the issuance of any authorization, permit, extension, verification, biological opinion, incidental take statement, or other approval described in subsection (c) or (d) of this section for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, … The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over any claim alleging the invalidity of this section or that an action is beyond the scope of authority conferred by this section.

MVP argues the Supreme Court should vacate the blocking order because it is “likely to prevail on the merits” of its claim, saying that the “balance of the equities overwhelmingly favors vacatur of the stays.” Lastly, MVP states that the Supreme Court could treat its application as a petition for a writ of mandamus and issue directing the Fourth Circuit to dismiss the petitions for review.

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