A legal battle over the construction of a new natural gas pipeline in West Virginia has raised common ground between President Joe Biden’s administration, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and a group of Republican lawmakers.
The relevant section of the debt limit bill states, “No court”—up to and including the Fourth Circuit—“shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken by [the relevant agencies] that grants ... any ... approval necessary for the construction and initial operation at full capacity of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.”
Ms. Prelogar added that the Wilderness Society’s legal challenges “cannot succeed because Congress ratified the agency actions that they challenge and superseded any provision of law inconsistent with the issuance of those approvals.”
Fossil Fuel Projects Divide Democrats
While Mr. Manchin and the Biden administration find themselves aligned with Republican lawmakers supporting the Mountain Valley Pipeline, several Democratic lawmakers have backed the Wilderness Society’s opposition to the pipeline project.On July 5, Democratic Virginia Reps. Jennifer McClellan, Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, and Jennifer Wexton submitted an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit Court, siding with the Wilderness Project in opposition to the pipeline.
Mr. Beyer, Ms. McClellan, and Ms. Wexton voted for the Fiscal Responsibility Act, despite its inclusion of the provisions favoring the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s completion. Mr. Connolly and Mr. Scott voted against the debt limit bill.
Explaining their votes on the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the July 5 brief states that they all supported an amendment to keep the Mountain Valley Pipeline project out of the debt limit bill.
“Only after amici’s efforts to pursue this amendment failed did Mr. Beyer, Ms. Wexton, and Ms. McClellan agree to vote for the broader bill. They concluded that anticipated harm to the global economy if the nation defaulted on its debt posed an unacceptable risk. In so voting, amici did not waive any right to continue raising objections to the [Mountain Valley Pipeline] approval process in all appropriate forums, including this litigation. Mr. Scott and Mr. Connolly voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act as presented on the floor of the House of Representatives, in part because their objections to the MVP remained unaddressed.”
This case would not be the first time the Biden administration and his fellow Democrats have ended up on opposite sides of a debate over new fossil fuel projects.