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The construction of an Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) to deliver clacked natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia, through Virginia to a North Carolina port, has faced heavy opposition by environmental activist groups since its 2014 announcement. Activists also opposed a pipeline tunneling below the famed Appalachian Trail. Two US companies attempting to carry out the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy, announced on Sunday (5/7) that they would abandon the pipeline due to “ongoing delays” brought by legal battles and “increasing cost uncertainty” that “threaten the economic viability of the project”. The two companies cited a recent Montana court ruling that ended the authority of the US Army Corps of Engineers, a formation of the US Army that primarily oversees dams, canals and flood protection, to issue utility line permits across wetlands and bodies of water, as one legal challenge behind the companies’ decision to give up the project. Despite Dominion and Duke being permitted on 15 June by the US Supreme Court to proceed in the pipeline construction, which was planned to be finished by 2021, the companies said that the recent developments have created an unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays for ACP//sputnik