Developers cancel long-delayed Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Protesters in February demonstrate against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, the developers behind the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, announced on Sunday they are canceling the $8 billion project.

The natural gas pipeline was set to go from West Virginia through Virginia to North Carolina. The project was first announced in 2014, with the developers saying they wanted the pipeline operational by 2018, but it was delayed due to environmental groups filing several legal challenges over permits.

Supporters said the pipeline would create manufacturing and construction jobs, while environmentalists and land owners argued it would destroy Appalachian forests. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Forest Service did have the authority to give the developers a key permit, but in a statement on Sunday, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy said there is still an "unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays," making the project "too uncertain to justify investing more shareholder capital."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.