In a split decision, FERC has given the green light for Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) to resume construction along most of the project route, modifying a cessation order issued last October amid court challenges of federal permitting.

The latest order, issued late Friday, clears a major obstacle in MVP’s push to complete a project that has faced repeated regulatory and legal setbacks since receiving a certificate from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017. 

FERC cleared MVP to resume work along all portions of the 2 million Dth/d, 303-mile project except for a 25-mile “exclusion zone” near the natural gas pipeline’s planned crossing of the Jefferson National Forest. Commissioner Richard Glick dissented.

Separately, FERC approved a recent request for a...