From The Roanoke Times. The pipeline gained another 17 miles Thursday in its quest to complete construction of the natural gas pipeline by the end of next year. December 17, 2020.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the company’s request to resume work on a stretch of the 303-mile pipeline that passes through Giles and Craig counties, between two sections of the Jefferson National Forest.

In 2018 FERC issued a stop-work order on an approximately 25 mile section of planned pipeline following an appellate court throwing out a U.S. Forest Service permit for the pipeline to cross 3.5 miles of national forest.

But, in a 2-1 decision Thursday, the commission ruled that Mountain Valley had presented sufficient evidence to show that resuming work on a 17-mile segment of the pipeline on private land would not harm the forest. The decision was not without dissent however, with Commissioner Richard Glick writing ‘That is a serious mistake’.