Manchin pipeline in debt ceiling deal prompts Democratic pushback

The inclusion of a West Virginia gas pipeline championed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in the debt ceiling deal is causing consternation among Democrats.

Getting the pipeline into the must-pass legislation is a huge victory for Manchin, who has been pushing for congressional approval of the project to fulfill a deal he made with Democratic leaders.

But it’s also both a surprise — and hugely controversial with Democrats and environmental groups who say it will lock in lock in more years of fossil-fuel dependency for the country. They say the project is circumventing normal procedures for such works.

“Singling out the Mountain Valley Pipeline for approval in a vote about our nation’s credit limit is an egregious act,” Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director with Appalachian Voices, said in a statement Sunday.

“By attempting to suspend the rules for a pipeline company that has repeatedly polluted communities’ water and flouted the conditions in its permits, the president and Congress would deny basic legal protections, procedural fairness, and environmental justice to communities along the pipeline’s path,” he added.

The debt deal could receive a vote in the House as soon as Wednesday as lawmakers work to pass the package through both chambers by a June 5 deadline. Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the government will not be able to pay its bills if legislation is not enacted by that date.

The debt ceiling bill is coupled with spending restrictions won by House Republicans.

Both sides have misgivings about the legislation, with conservatives arguing that spending cuts should be greater and progressives saying the administration gave up too much.

As a result, votes in both chambers are likely to be close, with opposition coming from members of each party.

Virginia lawmakers, who would see the Mountain Valley Pipeline run through their state, were among the most vocal in opposing its inclusion in the bill. The 303-mile vessel would bring gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he will offer an amendment to strip the pipeline from the deal, as did several House Democrats representing Virginia: Reps. Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Abigail Spanberger, Bobby Scott, Jennifer McClellan and Jennifer Wexton.

“Senator Kaine is extremely disappointed by the provision of the bill to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia, bypassing the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through,” a Kaine spokesperson told The Hill in an email.

“This provision is completely unrelated to the debt ceiling matter. He plans to file an amendment to remove this harmful Mountain Valley Pipeline provision,” the spokesperson said.

It’s unclear whether Kaine or other opponents of the pipeline’s inclusion in the legislation will oppose the package if their amendment fails, however.

Kaine’s spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether this would cause him to oppose the entire deal, while spokespeople for McClellan and Beyer said that the lawmakers hadn’t made final decisions on the overall legislation.

Some Republicans also criticized the deal for including the pipeline closely associated with Manchin.

“Manchin’s carve out for his pipeline is not germane to the bill. This is just your run of the mill govt picking winners and losers in the market and business as usual in Washington,” tweeted Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who included it on her list of reasons why she will vote against the deal.

Manchin defended the pipeline, telling West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval on Tuesday that he “respectfully disagree[s]” with Kaine and that the gas the pipeline transports is important.

“The product is needed in America,” he said, lamenting “the litigation [against the pipeline] that just goes on and on and on.”

“No matter what you do, you’re not going to satisfy some people. We just respectfully disagree,” he added.

Progressives were also critical of other energy provisions in the deal.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), a leading progressive voice on energy issues, criticized language that would limit to two years environmental reviews for infrastructure that might cause pollution. He’s long argued such limits could undermine the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

“The reforms we actually need are fully staffed permitting offices, transmission project reforms, and strong early engagement that prevents conflicts down the road — this bill’s slicing and dicing NEPA won’t do any of that,” he said in a statement.

“It’s no surprise that when you have Big Oil’s favorite GOP lap dogs at the negotiating table, NEPA is the first target of attack,” he added.

Grijalva’s office also released a fact sheet outlining provisions that it said will “gut” environmental laws.

The complaints from Grijalva, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee and a former chairman of the progressive caucus, follow complaints from he and other liberals that they had been left outside on talks on the bill.

“The White House consultation with the rest of us has been lacking,” he told The Hill in a Friday interview. “We’ve been pushing for a meeting.”

His office did not immediately respond to a question from The Hill about whether any such meeting ever occurred. The White House did not respond to The Hill’s question Friday about Grijalva’s comments.

Overall, the legislation may exacerbate tensions between the Biden administration and environmentalists, which have frayed with recent administrative decisions, particularly the approval of the Willow oil project in Alaska.

The bill also does not do much to build out the nation’s electric infrastructure, which Democrats say would bolster renewable energy sources.

Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who has emerged as a top Democratic voice on energy issues in the House, said in a written statement that the deal was a “net positive” and that he will vote for it. But he also said “we must enact robust reforms to speed up the construction of electric transmission lines.”

He pledged to keep working with bipartisan lawmakers in the hopes of passing “comprehensive permitting reform by the end of the year.”

Aris Folley contributed. 

This story was updated at 10:46 a.m. on May 31.

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