Supreme Court agrees to hear case on risky Atlantic Coast Pipeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a lower court decision that revoked a U.S. Forest Service permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals stated the Forest Service lacked authority to grant approval to Dominion and Duke Energy to cross the Appalachian Trail on federal land.

Since construction on the ACP began last year, seven crucial permits have been vacated, resulting in a halt to construction since December of 2018. Dominion Energy proposed this pipeline in 2014. In the years since, the energy landscape has changed dramatically and we now know that this $7.8 billion pipeline is costly, unneeded, dangerous, and will only add to our greenhouse gas emission problems and burden Duke and Dominion customers with the cost for decades to come.

In response to the decision, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club issued the following joint statement:

“We will defend the lower court’s decision in this case. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a dangerous, costly, and unnecessary project and we won’t stand by while Duke and Dominion Energy try to force it on our public lands, threatening people’s health, endangered species, iconic landscapes, and clean water along the way.”