FILE – In this Jan. 8, 2019, file photo, protesters hold signs as they turn their backs on a meeting of the Virginia State Air Quality Control Board in Richmond, Va. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to wade into a long-running battle between developers of a 605-mile natural gas pipeline and environmental groups who oppose the pipeline crossing the storied Appalachian Trail. On Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, the high court will hear arguments on a critical permit needed by developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is no stranger to controversy.
Since Dominion Energy and Duke Energy first proposed the pipeline in 2014, the $7.8 billion, 600-mile natural gas transmission project has been met with roadblocks at every turn. While many of these squabbles live and die within the confines of regulatory proceedings and lower courts, the fate of the most recent dispute—the consolidated cases of Atlantic Coast Pipeline v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association and U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association—rests in the hands of Supreme Court justices, who heard oral arguments in the case Feb. 24.
