Court hears argument to overturn block on pipeline surveys
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The lawyer for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline has asked the West Virginia Supreme Court to overturn a lower court order that blocked the developer from surveying Monroe County landowners’ property without their permission.
News outlets report the survey work has been halted since Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Robert Irons’ ruled in August 2015 that pipeline officials hadn’t established that the project would provide sufficient public use to justify entering private property without an owner’s permission.
Mountain Valley Pipeline attorney Charles Piccirillo on Tuesday told the court that the survey work would not be invasive.
Attorney Derek Teaney argued that surveyors who enter private land without permission are violating a basic right.
The 300-mile pipeline would transport natural gas from Wetzel County to another pipeline in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.