WASHINGTON, D.C. â The Federal Energy Regulation Commission recently began considering a request to complete construction at the northern end of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the natural gas pipeline with a planned southern endpoint in Chatham. The FERC issued a stop-work order in 2018 that impeded construction within a 25-mile zone situated between two Jefferson National Forest watersheds, citing environmental protection. However, the three-person FERC rendered a 2-1 majority vote last month to allow construction along a 17-mile portion of the previously denoted exclusion zone through Giles and Craig counties, from mile 201.6 to mile 218.6 of the pipeline, immediately northwest of Roanoke, ultimately concluding that construction along that segment would not release any pollutants into the neighboring watersheds.