Developers of the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline are punting its start date into next month, dropping plans to have the project in service by the end of May.
In a filing Tuesday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a lawyer for Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC said the company “has made significant progress towards mechanical completion.”
But it also said some welding work remains, as do two tests — or “tool runs” — meant to detect dents on the pipeline.
The delay into June marks the latest delay for the 303-mile project, which is designed to transport natural gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia. FERC gave the pipeline a green light in October 2017. The conduit faced years of legal challenges and opposition before a Mountain Valley-related provision expediting its completion was included in a federal debt ceiling law last year.
