Supremes Hear Atlantic Coast Pipeline Case

An aerial photo taken by a volunteer pilot shows
 construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in West
 Virginia in 2018.

EPA's hired gun, the Bay Journal, Pipeline backers, opponents get their day in the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday weighed whether a federal agency has the authority to grant or deny permission for a major pipeline to be built under the Appalachian Trail, hearing oral arguments from each side. The court’s decision, expected by June, could decide the fate of the long-contested, $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would wind across the southwest corner of the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Virginia.

Dominion Energy, the project’s backer, petitioned the court to consider the case after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in late 2018 revoked a permit from the U.S. Forest Service. The permit would have allowed construction to cross the Appalachian Trail and George Washington National Forest. It is one of seven federal permits related to the project that have been overturned by the courts, resulting in a construction stoppage since late 2018.

The legal conundrum to be decided by the court is whether the U.S. Forest Service has the authority to grant the pipeline a permit to tunnel under the Appalachian Trail. The trail crosses through national forests, as well as other public and private lands, but is managed by the National Park Service.

The case is not about which agency owns the trail but rather about which agency has jurisdiction over the federally owned land that the trail travels.

The Forest Service and Park Service have different charters when it comes to allowing major infrastructure projects, such as pipelines, across federally owned lands. The Park Service seeks to “preserve unimpaired” the lands it is charged with managing, while the Forest Service grants rights of way and other energy development opportunities on its land.

Arguing on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service, Andrew Yang, assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, aimed to distinguish between the trail that traverses the surface of the land and the land under which a project would be built.

“It’s a difficult distinction to wrap one’s head around,” said Justice Elena Kagan. “You’re saying the trail is distinct from the land that is the trail. No one makes this distinction in real life.”

And Judge Scalia thought she was the smart one.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg began with a similar line of questioning about the lawyers’ efforts to draw distinctions between the agencies’ authorities. But most of the judges seemed more concerned about the broader implications of a decision to uphold the Fourth Circuit’s decision to revoke the Forest Service permit.

Eventually, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. asked whether such a decision would essentially create “an impermeable barrier” for pipelines and projects like them trying to cross the Appalachian Trail to the East Coast.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, another natural gas pipeline being built across southern Virginia (outside the Chesapeake watershed) by a different developer is about 90% complete — but also needs a permit to cross the Appalachian Trail. Construction was halted as a result of the Fourth Circuit’s decision. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline project has begun tree clearing in Virginia but has not yet begun construction in the state.

In a preview for the SCOTUS blog, attorney Noah Sachs noted that siding with the pipeline’s opponents could prevent the agencies from granting a right-of-way for pipelines under any portion of the Appalachian Trail that runs through federal land.

“Because more than 80% of the trail is on federal land (the remainder is on state and private land), this case has major implications for where pipelines and other energy infrastructure can cross from the Midwest to population centers on the East Coast,” Sachs wrote.

Dominion pointed out in a statement released after oral arguments to the existence of more than 50 pipeline projects under the trail already as evidence that the work would not disturb public use of the trail.

“We’re avoiding any impacts to the trail by installing the pipeline more than 700 feet below the surface,” the statement said, adding feet to the 600-foot-below number that attorneys used during their arguments. Through horizontal drilling, the company said construction would only impact land more than a half-mile from each side of the trail. “People hiking by the crossing will not see, hear or even know the pipeline is there.”

WaPoo thinks Dominion is going to win (and they aren't very happy about it), Justices seem inclined to let Va. pipeline proceed