By John Kruzel

WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday removed an obstacle to completing the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, dealing a blow to environmental groups opposed to the West Virginia-to-Virginia pipeline led by energy company Equitrans Midstream.

The justices granted Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC's request to lift stays imposed by a lower court that had halted construction of a final short section of the 303-mile (488-km) natural gas pipeline. That section is a 3.5-mile (5.6-km) corridor through the federally owned Jefferson National Forest.

(Reporting by John Kruzel)