The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) last week gave the Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC (MVP) another item to cross off its regulatory checklist by issuing an Endangered Species Act review of the 2 million Dth/d, 303-mile Appalachian natural gas conduit.

MVP PNG file

Late last week, the USFWS notified FERC that it had finished drafting an up-to-date Biological Opinion (BiOp) and Incidental Take Statement (ITS) for the pipeline, part of federal requirements to review potential impacts to protected species from project construction. 

The newly issued opinion takes into account “new data” and ensures “that we continue using the best available scientific and commercial information,” the USFWS wrote in a memo to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

MVP first received a BiOp and...