By Ximena Mosqueda-Fernandez, July 14, 2017

The Atlantic Coast gas pipeline project’s developers promised to move forward in cooperation with landowners after a pair of Virginia Supreme Court rulings on cases dealing with the project’s surveying authority.

The state high court issued the rulings July 13 in cases that examined different aspects of the legality of Atlantic Coast teams entering private properties to survey the pipeline route. After landowners denied or withheld permission to survey, Atlantic Coast sponsors, led by Dominion Energy Inc., petitioned for declaratory judgments in separate Virginia county circuit courts, both of which ruled in favor of the project’s right to enter properties. The Virginia high court agreed with the lower court in one case but not the other.

The Supreme Court remanded Chaffins v. Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC for further proceedings. The ruling overturned the circuit court’s finding that Atlantic Coast could enter landowners’ properties based on notices of intent to enter that did not specify a single date when project surveyors would enter the properties.

Although Atlantic Coast later revised the notices to include dates of entry before conducting surveys, Justice William Mims said the original notices presented “an issue of statutory interpretation” that the Supreme Court intends to review anew. “There is an actual, ongoing controversy regarding [Atlantic Coast]‘s right under the original notices to enter landowners’ properties,” Mims wrote.

In Palmer v. Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, the Supreme Court determined that the project sponsors have the privilege to enter private land in order to survey, supporting the ruling of the circuit court. The ruling added that a landowner’s fundamental property rights cannot be used to exclude the project sponsors from surveying the area.

In a July 13 press release, Dominion Energy spokesman Aaron Ruby said the company was pleased with the decisions from the court. “We’re hopeful today’s ruling will settle this issue and allow is to continue working cooperatively with landowners to develop infrastructure in a way that minimizes impacts to the environment and their properties,” Ruby said.

On Chaffins, Ruby said the high court’s findings on the issue were consistent with those of other state and federal courts. “We respect the court’s ruling regarding landowner notifications,” Ruby said. “Going forward, we’ll continue our company’s policy of providing landowners with specific dates of entry prior to surveying.”

The transmission line would run for 600 miles from West Virginia, through Virginia and into North Carolina, carrying approximately 1.5-MMDth/d. The project is sponsored by Dominion, Southern Co. Gas, Duke Energy Corp. and Duke Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff is expected to issue an environmental impact statement for the project July 21. The project received a positive draft environmental review in December 2016. (FERC docket CP15-554)