[1] The Atlantic Coast Pipeline project was a private development by the joint venture of Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC of several energy companies to bring natural gas from wells in West Virginia, through Virginia, and then to a terminus in North Carolina and then onto other parts of the U.S. eastern seaboard, with a significant portion of this to be exported to India and Japan.

[4] Via the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 and subsequent amendments, agencies like the USFS may issue special use right of way permits for public lands under their authority.

[5] Though subsequent draft EIS included two of ten promised alternative routes, the USFS stated they could not assess these until the full evaluation was completed.

[6] A collation of environmental groups, led by the Cowpasture River Preservation Association and including the Sierra Club, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Shenandoah Valley Network and the Virginia Wilderness Committee, filed suit against the USFS' action in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in February 2018.

The three-judge court unanimously agreed that the USFS's decision to grant the permit "is particularly informed by the Forest Service's serious environmental concerns that were suddenly, and mysteriously, assuaged in time to meet a private pipeline company's deadlines".

[8] Both petitions asked the Court to review whether the USFS does have the ability to issue right of way special use permits for the lands traversed by the Appalachian Trail.

The arguments examined what ramifications the Fourth Circuit's decision would have if it were held, that many numerous pipelines and similar projects had already been built to cross the Appalachian Trail before it was established as a national park in 1968, and how the concept of "land" versus "right of way" could be reconciled between the USFS and NPS's oversight in this area.

Sotomayor stated the majority decision was "inconsistent with the language of three statutes, long-standing agency practice, and common sense", and that "Only Congress, not this court, should change that mandate [of permitting pipelines across federally-owned lands]".