The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the final permit on the Mountain Valley Pipeline on Friday, clearing the way to finish construction on the sprawling interstate natural gas pipeline, which could be completed as early as this year.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who led the push for the pipeline, announced the news on Twitter. “The construction of this pipeline has been caught up in America’s broken permitting process for far too long, and I look forward to the day this important piece of energy infrastructure is up-and-running,” Manchin tweeted.
GOOD NEWS: The Mountain Valley Pipeline has received its final permit from @USACEHQ. Construction on the final section will soon be underway. I'm proud to have worked with my colleagues to secure bipartisan support for this project, which will boost American energy independence. pic.twitter.com/g2g7QLZoDU
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) June 23, 2023
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Construction on the 303-mile natural gas pipeline, which runs from Manchin’s home state of West Virginia to southern Virginia, had been halted for the past five years by a series of court delays but was expedited in the debt ceiling deal negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden.
The legislation, which Biden signed earlier this month, directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to authorize the completion of the pipeline over the waters of the United States and prevented any litigation that might have challenged the pipeline.
The pipeline has been the subject of fierce debate and pushback from environmental groups, which had argued in court that it will degrade the environment and make climate change worse.
Manchin and the rest of the West Virginia congressional delegation have pushed for the completion of the pipeline to improve national energy security, and Equitrans, the lead developer behind the pipeline project, said that it could be completed by the end of the year once the Army Corps approved the final permit.
"Given the legislation, and assuming the timely issuance of the few remaining authorizations, we anticipate MVP crews will work to complete construction of the project by year-end 2023, at an estimated total project cost of approximately $6.6 billion," an Equitrans spokesperson said earlier this month.
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Once fully operational, the pipeline is expected to have a capacity of 2 billion cubic feet per day.
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline is essential to ensuring our nation’s energy and national security and providing affordable, reliable natural gas to hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Manchin said.