This is very revealing about the Mountain Valley Pipeline folks’ (bad) attitude…great catch by Jon Sokolow! Also, gotta love this exchange (listen to the audio at the bottom of this post):
Judge Stephanie Thacker: “If the regulations and everything are appropriate to do what you’re doing now, then why, in the August 4, 2020 earnings call did MVP say that it intended to trench through critical streams ‘as quickly as possible before anything is challenged’?”
MVP attorney: “In recognition, your honor, that our opponents are implacable. We would be challenged…”
Judge Thacker: “That pardon?”
MVP attorney: “That our opponents are implacable, that they will challenge anything that we do. And in this context, we have been in a temporary stabilized condition for a year, incurring a cost of $20 million per month. We have the authorizations, we are not going to wait to get sued and wait for the those lawsuits to be resolved…This Monday morning quarterbacking about what we might have done a long time is besides the point…everything we have done to get the project to where it is now was done lawfully.”
My god, just kill this absurd, polluting boondoggle already.
P.S. Jon adds, “To win, you need to establish a) the court has jurisdiction, b) you are likely to succeed on the merits, c) the balance of equities favors your side and d) it is in the public interest. I’d say from today’s argument, this is looking very good for the anti-pipeline forces and very bad for MVP.”
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