Debt deal leans on environmental concessions to gain support

Appalachians at midday (Photo by Sean Foster, Unsplash)

After five years of legal finagling, the Mountain Valley Pipeline could be plucked from the mire and "fast-tracked to completion as part of the new debt ceiling deal," reports Timothy Puko of The Washington Post. "Text of a bipartisan bill intended to avoid the first-ever government default includes language that would expedite completion of the deeply divisive natural-gas pipeline. As currently phrased, the bill states that 'Congress hereby finds and declares that the timely completion of construction and operation of the MVP is required in the national interest.' Litigation over the $6.6 billion project — pertaining mostly to its heavy environmental footprint — has long delayed its completion. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, has been trying since last summer to find a legislative way out of the legal logjam."

"It is another White House concession to Manchin, who has long championed the 303-mile pipeline, which would carry West Virginia shale gas to the East Coast but has been tripped up by dozens of environmental violations and a slew of court fights," Puko writes. "Environmentalists have fought the project since its inception, and the new provisions aim to block them from challenging almost all government approvals for the line to cut across federal forests and dozens of waterways in Appalachia's hilly, wet terrain."

The pipeline may not be the only project to get green-lighted through the debt-ceiling compromise. Puko writes, "The pipeline language is just one of a few energy and climate provisions in the deal, drawing ire from pipeline opponents and climate activists. The bill also proposes streamlining the landmark National Environmental Policy Act to limit its requirements on some projects. . . . Republican leaders say they will work with the White House later on how to speed up major electric transmission projects — crucial to Biden's goal of transitioning away from fossil fuels — but excluded such provisions from this deal."

Environmental groups are not satisfied with the deal. "The Sierra Club on Monday called for Congress to reject it, as did Sen. Tim Kaine (D) from Virginia, where both U.S. senators have opposed the pipeline project," Puko adds. "Several climate advocates criticized Biden for supporting the pipeline by noting the administration also approved a giant oil project in Alaska called Willow earlier this year and has been reluctant to help stop other pipeline projects. Climate activists have tried to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline as a way of limiting the supply of cheap natural gas, and locals have been frustrated by frequent construction mishaps."

Biden needs Manchin to meet many of his administration's climate goals. "Manchin, who had demanded legislation to help the [MVP] project as part of his support for the larger climate package last year," Puko reports. "Manchin may be needed again to pass the new deal to raise the country's debt ceiling, and Democrats have been looking to help his tough reelection trying to defend a Democratic senate seat in his heavily Republican state. . . . . Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, a renewable energy industry group, called the measures just a 'down payment.' It will introduce shorter review timelines and empower a single lead agency on decisions, among other moves."