The Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration permit for a major natural gas pipeline, removing a legal barrier for the $8 billion project.
In a 7-2 opinion on Monday, the Supreme Court upheld a 2018 “right-of-way” permit by the Forest Service that would allow the Atlantic coast pipeline operators to place a 0.1-mile segment underneath the Appalachian Trail in the George Washington National Forest.
The decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, reversed an appeals court decision that found the Forest Service overstepped its authority by granting the permit because the land was overseen by the National Park Service.
Environmentalists said they were disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling but that the fight over the roughly 600-mile pipeline project is far from over. The pipeline, in which Virginia-based Dominion Energy and North Carolina-based Duke Energy are major investors, still lacks all the permits it needs for construction, they said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering legal challenges to the pipeline’s main permit, with arguments expected later in the year.
“This is not a viable project,” said D.J. Gerken, program director for the Southern Environmental Law Center, in a statement. “It’s time for these developers to move on and reinvest the billions of dollars planned for this boondoggle into the renewable energy that Virginia and North Carolina customers want and deserve.”
