Update, 5:42 p.m.:
An MVP spokeswoman Natalie Cox said the company expects to receive the remaining regulatory approvals and permits to complete the project and continues to target a fourth quarter 2019 date to begin service.
Cox added that the language in the report that referred to the possibility the project may never get finished is standard risk factor terminology in statements such as those.
Original story:
Leaders behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline say the project may never get finished.
A report the company filed with a federal agency said the difficulties with getting necessary approval could delay the project, make it too costly or cause it to not get built at all.
The company filed the report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in October. It said, in part:
“Recent decisions by regulatory and judicial authorities in pending proceedings could impact our or the MVP Joint Venture's ability to obtain all approvals and authorizations necessary to complete certain projects on the projected time frame or at all or our ability to achieve the expected investment return on the project.”
The natural gas pipeline still has a projected completion date of late next year. The company said it’s still working to get all necessary permits.
The controversial project would start in West Virginia and cross through Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties in Virginia, extending into North Carolina.
Earlier this month, the State Water Control Board said it’s reconsidering a permit it granted regarding water quality.
In October, a court pulled a federal stream-crossing permit, which was a major setback for the project.
A federal agency issued a stop-work order in August for the project, citing environmental concerns. The order was lifted later that month for all sections besides two stretches that cross federal land.
The natural gas pipeline would travel 303 miles and is estimated to cost $4.6 billion.
The project has been met with opposition from the planning stage. Opponents have voiced concerns in local meetings and federal court proceedings, and staged sit-in style protests that have ranged from so-called tree-sits -- where some protesters have positioned themselves in the path of construction workers for more than a month at a time -- to protests where opponents have chained themselves to construction equipment in order to delay work.