RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Energy companies have formally filed with federal regulators to build a 300-mile natural gas pipeline from West Virginia through southern Virginia. Mountain Valley Pipeline announced Friday it applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build the pipeline from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to Pittsylvania County, located in Southside Virginia. The pipeline would deliver natural gas from so-called fracked drilling fields in the rich Marcellus and Utica shale deposits. The joint venture between EQT Midstream Partners and other energy companies is proposing a 2016 construction start with the pipeline delivering energy by late 2018. The pipeline has encountered resistance along is proposed route. Dominion Resources has already filed with FERC to build a proposed pipeline that would also run from West Virginia to Virginia.
