A federal judge has slowed efforts by the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to fast-track one of the lawsuits against hundreds of landowners to use eminent domain to gain easements necessary for the project to be built. U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. on November 16th indicated that he would not be granting a request from MVP lawyers that all of the landowners in the company’s West Virginia lawsuit be forced to respond by Dec. 4 to the company’s motions for summary judgment to force unwilling landowners to allow surveys of their property and to “immediate access and possession” of those properties to begin construction of the pipeline. More details here.
Eminent Domain Law Suits on MVP Hit a Bump