Mountain Valley Pipeline approval is included in federal debt ceiling deal
Anti-fossil fuel NGOs are up in arms.
The much-anticipated debt ceiling deal, titled the “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023,” was finalized on May 27, 2023. The deal, which must be negotiated into legislation and approved by Congress, would raise the federal debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, while capping spending on some non-discretionary items. Surprisingly, it also includes approval for all permitting of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is excellent news for the company and natural gas consumers in Virginia. The MVP has been fighting court battles that have delayed construction since the project was started in 2014.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is an interstate pipeline owned by a joint venture that includes EQM Midstream Partners, which will be the operator. It is a 303-mile, 420-inch pipeline with a capacity of 3 billion cubic feet per day and is 94% completed. The pipeline will carry natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shales in West Virginia to Northwest Virginia, with interconnections serving the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Northeast.
The debt ceiling deal includes the following language:
Congress hereby ratifies and approves all authorizations, permits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, incidental take statements, and any other approvals or orders issued pursuant to federal law necessary for the construction and initial operation at full capacity of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The proposed bill not only takes the pipeline out of the courts, but it also removes the MVP from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, where a three-judge has blocked the completion of the pipeline project for years. The bill says any challenge to this new law must be brought in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
It is an understatement to say that the anti-fossil fuel NGOs are outraged that the pipeline they thought they had killed has been greenlighted. Here are a few representative statements from the groups:
“Singling out the Mountain Valley Pipeline for approval in a vote about our nation’s credit limit is an egregious act,” said Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director with Appalachian Voices.
Ariel Moger, government and political affairs director at Friends of the Earth, noted that Manchin "has done as much as Republicans to sabotage the Democratic agenda" by refusing to back Biden's signature domestic agenda, the Build Back Better Act, in 2021.
"This agreement is far from a compromise," she added. "It's a surrender to Big Oil and Republican hostage-takers in Congress. Democrats should vote NO on this disgraceful deal and force a vote on a clean debt limit increase."
"The debt deal insists that building Manchin's pet MVP pipeline is 'in the national interest' and will cut global warming emissions," said 350.org co-founder and author Bill McKibben. "These things simply aren't true."
The legislation includes "too many lies to even begin correcting" about the pipeline, said Grace Tuttle, advocacy director for the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition.
"Support for Biden's climate record plummeted among young people after his approval of the Willow project," said Henn. "Greenlighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline will drive it down even further."
With the Fiscal Responsibility Act, said Jean Su, energy justice program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, "Biden has allowed Sen. Manchin and Republicans to hold the government hostage to ram through the climate-killing Mountain Valley Pipeline, dramatically roll back bedrock environmental laws that give voice to frontline communities, and sabotage agencies whose job is to protect the environment and working families."
"Congress should reject these poison pills," she said, "and pass a clean debt ceiling bill."
It is too early to predict the fate of this debt ceiling deal. But one thing for sure is that these organizations and the 70 climate groups that supported Sen. Markey’s bill to roll back U.S. oil and gas exports are working hard to whip up opposition.
It would be great to see the Mountain Valley Pipeline finally completed, leaving the anti-fossil-fuel NGOs frustrated and demoralized. We will be tracking this story.