4th circuit opinion explains reasoning behind vacating pipeline permit in Oct.
When the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection waived its authority required for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, it made the project ineligible for a water-crossing permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, a panel of judges wrote in an opinion Tuesday.
The opinion from the judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals comes after the panel vacated the key Clean Water Act permit for the pipeline in October, saying regulators lacked legal authority to “substitute” one kind of construction standard for another.
That order came four days after the panel heard oral arguments in the case brought by a coalition of environmental and citizen groups that challenged the federal government’s approval of the 300-mile long pipeline.
The pipeline would run from Wetzel County, West Virginia, into Virginia.
