The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the developers of a natural gas pipeline project, clearing some of the obstacles to the completion of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline by ruling this week that the U.S. Forest Service had the authority to grant the right-of-way to the pipeline to pass through the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a US$7.5 billion project proposed by Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, is a 604-mile natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina along a route that crosses 16 miles of land within the George Washington National Forest. The project had secured a special use permit from the United States Forest Service, obtaining a right-of-way to go underneath a portion of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, which also crosses the National Forest.

But environmentalists and other associations appealed the permit at the Fourth Circuit court, which vacated that permit, effectively halting the project.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling on Monday, overturned the lower court’s ruling to vacate the permit.

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Source: Oil Price