Developers of the Atlantic Coast pipeline yesterday launched a highly anticipated Supreme Court appeal to preserve permits for the natural gas project to traverse the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
A panel of judges for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year found the power to approve the project's 0.1-mile crossing of the trail fell not to the Forest Service, which may grant pipeline rights of way under the Mineral Leasing Act, but to the National Park Service, which is bound by a strict land conservation mandate (Energywire, Feb. 26).