Debt Ceiling Agreement Gives Life to Zombie MVP Project, Putting Appalachia and Global Climate at Risk
CCAN Action Fund says: “Congress must pass a clean debt ceiling bill.”
Washington, DC — Sunday, President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announced that they had reached an agreement on a bill to increase the U.S. government’s debt ceiling. The so-called Fiscal Responsibility Act sneaks in clauses that would resurrect West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s favorite zombie project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). As currently written, this bill would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue its permit within 21 days of enactment and hamstring government agencies, bypassing their long-established environmental review processes and circumventing judicial oversight.
This comes after NextEra energy, a major investor in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, announced in May its intention to sell off all gas assets by 2025. The poorly-conceived pipeline, which claims to be 94% complete, is in reality only around 56% complete and has been saddled with delays and compliance violations.
Quentin Scott, Federal Director for CCAN Action Fund, the advocacy arm of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, stated:
“The Mountain Valley fracked-gas pipeline is back to haunt us. Claims that this project is in any way clean or green are terribly misleading and dangerous: it would emit as much pollution as 26 coal-fired power plants…annually! MVP is not only disastrous for the global climate, but also for the people of Appalachia who live, work, and source their water from within the pipeline’s blast zone. Congress must pass a clean debt ceiling bill and let this zombie project die.
“As regional demand for gas declines, the proposed project is unnecessary and ill-conceived. CCAN Action Fund urges President Biden and Congress to pass a clean debt ceiling bill that does not include any provision that would expedite MVP.
“Chesapeake Climate Action Network and CCAN Action Fund have been involved in the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline since 2015 through organizing and legal action. With our partners, we have successfully defeated attempts to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Chickahominy Gas Plant and Pipeline in Virginia, as well as numerous other fossil fuel infrastructure projects.”
Contact:
Quentin Scott, 773-859-8321, quentin@chesapeakeclimate.org
KC Chartrand, 240-620-7144, kc@chesapeakeclimate.org
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CCAN Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 20 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
