Activists have shut down two major fossil fuel pipelines—at least for now
Protestors in Washington, D.C. (Vlad Tchompalov/)Despite the current administration’s continued moves to grind away at foundational environmental laws, advocates are claiming major victories in courthouses. This week, less than 24 hours apart, two high-profile oil pipelines have been crushed—at least temporarily.On Sunday, energy companies scrapped their proposal for a 600-mile pipeline carrying natural gas from West Virginia into North Carolina and Virginia, which would cross forested lands with rivers and wetlands. The Atlantic Coast Natural Gas Pipeline has faced fierce opposition from environmental advocates ever since it was announced in 2014. The CEOs of the companies responsible for the project, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, announced they were cancelling the pipeline. “A series of legal challenges to the project’s federal and state permits has caused significant project cost increases and timing delays,” they wrote in a press release. The companies cited “increased legal uncertainty” and the cost of fighting litigation as...