High Court to Rule on Pipeline

The state Supreme Court is considering the arguments of a group of southwest landowners in the path of a natural gas pipeline. Justices heard an appeal this week in Richmond involving the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which covers 300 miles in West Virginia and Virginia. The landowners from Giles (jyls) County objected to surveyors coming on their land to plot a path for the pipeline. A Circuit Court judge rejected the case, but Appalachian Mountain Advocates took the appeal to the Supreme Court. They are questioning a state law that allows pipeline surveyors on their land under Virginia’s eminent domain law. Appalachian Mountain Advocates says it successfully prevented Mountain Valley Pipeline from entering private property in West Virginia. Justices typically rule in a month to six weeks.