Mountain Valley Pipeline: Enough Is Enough

Halfway through 2022, the MVP is still a bad idea

Two years ago this week, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) was canceled. On this anniversary, it's worth looking at the lessons its defeat holds for ongoing pipeline struggles, like that against the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

By the time the ACP was canceled, it was years behind schedule, billions over budget, and lacking key federal permits. So too is the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Eight years after it was first proposed, the 300+ mile fracked gas pipeline is barely half completed to final restoration and has ballooned in cost. It’s looking increasingly likely it will never be completed.

Like the ACP, the MVP has struggled to get the permits it needs to construct the pipeline, has tried to cut through protected lands and streams, and has impacted communities.

In the interim, it’s become increasingly clear the demand for a big gas pipeline just isn’t there. In late June, the MVP decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on two federal permits that the Sierra Club and partners successfully challenged in federal court. MVP is now instead reapplying for federal permits a third time in less than five years.

In February, NextEra, the second-largest partner, wrote the project off their books, a signal that it holds no value for the company, as they began to realize the project no longer has a realistic chance of moving forward. NextEra, which currently owns approximately 31% of the MVP,[1] had a $1.5 billion impairment charge in 2020 relating to MVP, and that was just their first major write off associated with the project.[2] In February 2022, NextEra revealed that they had written off another $800 million after performing a fair market analysis.2 This means after multiple impairment charges, NextEra has essentially not only lost all of their investment, they have also recorded a liability of approximately $200 million on the project.2 The company has determined the project has a “very low probability of pipeline completion.”3 Furthermore, they went so far as to say they are reevaluating their investment[3] in the project. NextEra could and should step up to the plate and bring the project to an end once and for all.

Meanwhile, in May, Equitrans, the lead partner in the MVP, announced that project costs have risen to $6.6 billion from $3.7 billion. That prompted energy market analytics company RBN Energy LLC to predict the pipeline would still not be in service by the end of 2024. RBN also noted  “a good deal of skepticism” about whether the Mountain Valley Pipeline will ever be completed. Equitrans then went even further, announcing evaluation of MVP Southgate, a proposed 75-mile extension of MVP into North Carolina. This is significant because the MVP Southgate extension is missing multiple federal and state permits as well, is years behind schedule, and has had zero construction to date.

Furthermore, all 5 equity partners who own MVP—Equitrans Midstream Corp., NextEra Energy, Inc., AltaGas, Ltd., Consolidated Edison, Inc., and RGC Resources, Inc—have now written off billions more than the entire original projected cost of the project, totaling more than a whopping $5+ billion.

Despite all of this, MVP is still trying to move this disastrous project forward by applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a second extension request – this time for four more years. Why should another federal agency give MVP more time yet again? The answer is – they shouldn’t.

Call to Action:

We must stop the MVP from ever being built, and protect our communities, and our air and water. Join the Sierra Club and frontline organizations calling on FERC to deny MVP’s four-year extension request.

VIDEO: The Mountain Valley Pipeline is not 90% complete.

Photo courtesy of Jess Sims, Appalachian Voices