Opening of Mountain Valley Pipeline is closely watched in the Triad. Proposed extension would go to Rockingham County. (2024)

The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline began operating Friday after nearly a decade of controversy in West Virginia and Virginia, a development seen as raising the likelihood of a proposed extension south into North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad.

The pipeline now transports natural gas starting in West Virginia and passing through six counties in Virginia, ending at a compressor station in Pittsylvania County, which shares a border with Rockingham and Caswell counties in North Carolina.

“This is an important and long-awaited day for our nation and the millions of Americans who now have greater access to an abundant supply of domestic natural gas for use as an affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy resource,” said Diana Charletta, president and CEO of Equitrans Midstream Corp., the lead partner in the Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC joint venture.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave final approval of the original MVP project June 11, following years of regulatory hurdles and legal battles.

Ryke Longest, co-director of the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Clinic, emphasized the broader implications of the approval, noting that the success of the original MVP project is a critical step for the extension to also gain regulatory support. “This action makes that more likely,” he said.

Originally proposed in 2018, MVP Southgate has faced its own challenges and revisions. Initially planned to span 75 miles and run into Rockingham and Alamance counties, the project’s scope was later updated to a 31-mile extension into just Rockingham County, to transport 550 million cubic feet of gas per day after its projected completion in 2028.

In 2020, FERC issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the MVP Southgate project. By 2023, the commission had extended the project completion deadline to 2026. Last December , Mountain Valley informed the commission of its intention to revise the scope of the MVP Southgate project, although the revised details have not yet been formally submitted.

The project has encountered opposition from environmental groups and elected officials concerned about its potential environmental impact. Last summer, for example, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper urged regulators in a letter to deny the certification extension, questioning the necessity of the pipeline. He argued that claims of its necessity are “misguided,” particularly in light of the state’s mandate for electric utilities to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

“Pipelines always leak, the only question is how much and how will the pipeline owner respond,” Longest said, pointing to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s collected statistics on pipelines showing that even with modern construction, pipeline incidents are “numerous and dangerous.”

Moreover, Longest explained, these incidents do not fully account for the environmental impact of pipeline leaks, which release methane — a potent greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change.

“Instead of building new natural gas lines, we should be repairing existing leaks in pipelines and helping industries and consumers phase out the use of methane, or what is marketed as natural gas.”

These concerns are rooted in recent events. A rupture on May 1 in Virginia raised concerns among local residents and environmental groups and prompted calls for additional scrutiny. In a letter issued on June 11, however, FERC confirmed that Mountain Valley has adequately stabilized construction-disturbed areas with satisfactory restoration efforts.

Meanwhile, MVP Southgate continues to argue that pipelines represent the safest fuel transportation method, contending that it aims to diversify N.C.’s natural gas supply transmission system.

“Since developers first proposed the ruinous Mountain Valley Pipeline, their disregard for community and environmental safety has been clear,” Jessica Sims, Virginia Field Coordinator of Appalachian Voices said, as the group underscored concerns regarding potential hazards such as leaks, explosions, and landslides along the pipeline route.

“By allowing MVP to advance despite all these serious hazards, the system meant to protect our communities, land and water has failed,” Sims added.

In 2021, emissions from natural gas and petroleum systems, including abandoned oil and natural gas wells, accounted for about 33% of total methane emissions and approximately 4% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And while natural gas burns cleaner than coal or oil, its combustion still contributes 35% of U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions as of 2022.

Despite multiple inquiries from the News & Record regarding the concerns raised by different environmental groups, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not provide a response.