Supreme Court hears arguments about pipeline; justices in majority seem sympathetic to energy companies

Atlantic Coast Pipeline proposed route (Associated Press map)

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday about whether a lower court was right to toss a key permit needed for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross under the Appalachian Trail. The court seems poised to rule for the natural-gas pipeline developers; most justices expressed skepticism about the lower court's ruling, Denise Lavoie reports for The Associated Press.

In 2018, the Richmond-based Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "found the U.S. Forest Service did not have the authority to grant a right-of-way to allow the pipeline to cross beneath the Appalachian Trail in the George Washington National Forest" on the Virginia-West Virginia border, Lavoie reports. "The Fourth Circuit found that the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act allows rights-of-way for pipelines on federal land, except for land in the National Park System." The court found that the trail is a unit of the system, so the service has no the authority to approve a right-of-way. Only Congress can approve such a crossing, the environmental groups argued.

But conservative justices in the Supreme Court's 5-4 majority were hesitant about upholding the appeals court's ruling, and "expressed concern that concluding that no federal agency can grant easements for pipeline projects on lands crossed by the trail within national forests could erect a roadblock to energy infrastructure projects," Lavoie reports.

Attorney Michael Kellogg, who represents the environmental groups, noted that 55 pipelines run under the Appalachian Trail, 19 of them laid on federal land before the Appalachian Trail was designated as a national scenic trail under the National Trails System Act in 1968, Lavoie reports.

"The narrow question before the Supreme Court is whether the Forest Service has the authority to grant rights-of-way through lands crossed by the Appalachian Trail within national forests," Lavoie reports. Lead pipeline developer Dominion Energy and the federal government "say the Trails System Act did not transfer lands crossed by the trail to the National Park Service. They argue that although the Park Service is charged with overall administration of the trail, the actual lands crossed by the trail within national forests remain under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service."