NE Piedmont News

West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina will no longer be host to the multibillion-dollar project Atlantic Coast Pipeline plan after the energy companies leading the effort canceled the project. was canceled by energy companies, The Center Square reported. 

“For almost six years we have worked diligently and invested billions of dollars to complete the project and deliver the much-needed infrastructure to our customers and communities,” Dominion Energy President Thomas Farrell and Duke Energy President Lynn Good said in a joint statement, reported by The Center Square on July 6. “ … This announcement reflects the increasing legal uncertainty that overhangs large-scale energy and industrial infrastructure development in the United States. Until these issues are resolved, the ability to satisfy the country's energy needs will be significantly challenged."

The project would have run a pipeline from Harrison County in West Virginia through Virginia and down to North Carolina's Robeson County, The Center Square reported. It would have created 17,000 jobs as well. 

The cancellation will hurt many people that relied on the construction for revenue, Garrett Ballengee, the executive director of the West Virginia-based, told The Center Square. 

“I think it's also a defeat for progress, as it's becoming clearer that the nexus of regulatory, judicial, and activist pressure makes it increasingly unlikely that large-scale, positively impactful, energy-creating projects will even be attempted, let alone completed,” Ballengee told the Center Square. “I think many people forget that a modern world and modern economy relies on consistent, reliable and cheap energy and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is yet another indicator that few people consider energy policy in a thoughtful, reasoned or even pragmatic way. It's a sad day for West Virginia, and it's a sad day for progress.”