Supreme Court hears battle over pipeline

The Supreme Court on Monday appeared ready to remove an obstacle to construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, with a majority of justices expressing skepticism about a lower-court ruling that tossed out a key permit needed for the natural gas pipeline to cross under the Appalachian Trial.

Justices on the court grilled a lawyer for environmental groups who sued and won a 2018 ruling from the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal throwing out a special-use permit for the 605-mile natural gas pipeline.

The 4th Circuit 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.

But conservative justices, who hold a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court, expressed reservations about the ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts at one point saying the lower court’s finding would “erect an impermeable barrier” to any pipeline from areas where natural gas is located to areas where it is needed.

“Absolutely incorrect,” attorney Michael Kellogg, representing the environmental groups, responded.

Kellogg said there are 35 pipelines that run under the Appalachian Trail, 19 of them on federal land with easements granted before the Appalachian Trail was designated as a national scenic trail under the 1968 National Trails System Act. The remaining pipelines are on state and private land, he said.

But Justice Brett Kavanaugh told Kellogg that the environmental groups’ position has “significant consequences to it, enormous consequences.”

The 4th 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 considered a unit of the National Park System, so the Forest Service doesn’t have the authority to approve a right of way.

Lawyers for the developers backed by the Trump administration, say the Forest Service has jurisdiction over land in the George Washington National Forest.