Long-Delayed Pipeline Begins Pumping West Virginia Natural Gas to Mid-Atlantic Power Plants

Mountain Valley Pipeline will feed 2 billion cubic feet per day of fracked shale gas into electric grid.

Construction crews work on a tunnel through which the Mountain Valley Pipeline will pass in Roanoke County, Va., on June 22, 2018. Heather Rousseau/The Roanoke Times via AP

Three days after receiving final federal approval and nearly a decade after it was first proposed, the 303-mile, $7.85 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline is funneling natural gas from West Virginia into Virginia, where it will boost fuel reserves to power mid-Atlantic electric utilities.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline began operating on June 14, ending years of legal contention, regulatory debate, and environmental protests.