RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Federal officials have ordered that construction be halted on the Atlantic Coast pipeline, days after a federal appeals court threw out two key permits for building the 600-mile natural gas pipeline.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced the order in a letter Friday to Dominion Energy, the project’s lead developer.
On Monday, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit was “arbitrary and capricious” regarding its effect on five threatened or endangered species.
The judges also vacated a right-of-way permit for the pipeline to pass underneath the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The pipeline is slated to start in West Virginia and run through Virginia and North Carolina.
In a statement, Dominion Energy said it is working to resolve the issues holding up construction.
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