U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, is right to fight for development of the gas and oil industries, and our region certainly should be thankful he has filed a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the construction of a pipeline to move natural gas from West Virginia to a depot in Virginia.

As the Sun-Gazette’s reporting in Tuesday’s edition noted, the pipeline already is 95 percent complete and has cleared regulatory hurdles set forth by the appropriate branches of government. The last 5 percent of work before this pipeline can transport 375 million cubic feet of gas a day, according to North Carolina’s environmental agency, is tied up by an appeals court.

The project will help bring affordable energy to market and create jobs for parts of the country that direly need them.

“The Mountain Valley Pipeline would have a multi-billion-dollar economic impact on Pennsylvania and is vital to the growth of the commonwealth’s natural gas industry, which employs tens of thousands of residents,” Meuser said, according to the news release cited in last Friday’s Sun-Gazette.

We agree that this project — and the natural gas industry itself — is vital to our region’s and our nation’s future. We appreciate Congressman Meuser’s decision to weigh in and we hope the Supreme Court will listen to reason and rein in the activist judges standing in the way of progress.

— Williamsport Sun-Gazette