FERC has issued an environmental assessment (EA) for the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), signing off on the project’s plans to use a different water crossing method at some locations along its route.

MVP filed in February to amend its certificate approval as part of a broader plan to work around a prolonged legal process on its stayed Nationwide Permit 12. 

MVP has proposed using trenchless methods to cross 136 streams and 47 wetlands that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission originally authorized as open-cut crossings. 

FERC said in a favorable EA released Friday that the new technique would not have a significant impact on the human environment as long as MVP adheres to its application and follows the Commission’s recommended mitigation measures. While...