拟议的80亿美元大西洋海岸管道的建设克服了6月15日的一个重大障碍，当时美国最高法院确认了美国森林服务机构允许其在阿巴拉契亚trail拖船下越过，但604英里的天然天然气线还有其他障碍值得克服挑战联邦能源监管委员会的主要许可证。

The Forest Service challenged a lower court decision to reject its permission granted in 2018 for a 16-mile segment of the project 600-feet below the trail in Virginia. The lower court said the trail had become part of the National Park system and under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Park Service

The high court ruling settles a dispute between two federal agencies and several federal laws.

Because the pipeline would cross under a portion of the Appalachian Trail located in a national forest, the high court ruled that the Forest Service did not lose its jurisdiction over the federal lands when it turned over management of the area to the Park Service.

Dominion Energy, part owner of the line, termed the ruling "a major victory that paves the way" for its completion. The firm said its is currently resolving other permit issues to resume construction this year. Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas also are owners, but Southern Company dropped its 5% share in the project earlier this year.

The pipeline would transport fracked natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus gas fields in West Virginia to Virginia and North Carolina.

The project’s FERC approval is under review by the Washington, D.C. federal appeals court. The case will decide if FERC correctly determined in its 2017 approval that the pipeline is needed to fuel gas-fired projects, the Southern Environmental Law Center said. The court is expected to hear arguments later this year.

开发商表示，弗吉尼亚州沿海和北卡罗来纳州东部的社区面临着天然气的长期短缺，但反对者认为，各州正在将能源经济带离化石燃料。

“ Dominion Energy告诉弗吉尼亚州的监管机构，新的天然气发电厂的建造在该州不再可行，”环境集团说。

该项目仍然需要八个额外的许可证。

Dorsey＆Whitney律师事务所Mark Burghardt说，不管大西洋海岸管道的结果如何，高等法院的裁决使开发商能够规划与2,000英里长的阿巴拉契亚步道的潜在穿越相关的管道路线。