mvp mtn vly pipeln

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">see manchin</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">// Our ch T</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">bad code npr?</b></font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">biden</span> promised mvp to get BBB?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/how-manchin-and-sinema-quietly-influenced-debt-ceiling-negotiations-report/">https://www.alternet.org/how-manchin-and-sinema-quietly-influenced-debt-ceiling-negotiations-report/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/global_heat_climate_crisis_july_2023">https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/global_heat_climate_crisis_july_2023</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">n<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ew climate data show July is on track to become the hottest month in human history, with global temperatures rising to about 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels. On Thursday, the head of the World Meteorological Organization said, “Climate action is not a luxury but a must,” while U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres scolded world leaders over inaction on the climate.</span></font></div><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px !important; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">Secretary-General António Guterres</strong>: “Climate change is here, it is terrifying, and it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. The air is unbreathable, the heat is unbearable, and the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.N.’s warning came as hundreds of wildfires fueled by record heat continued to burn out of control around the Mediterranean — in Algeria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In China, Typhoon Doksuri made landfall today in the southeastern Fujian province, sparking fires, downing power lines and shuttering schools and businesses. On Thursday, the storm lashed southern Taiwan after battering the northern Philippines, where it killed at least 39 people.</font></p><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/headlines/supreme_court_will_allow_construction_of_mountain_valley_pipeline_to_resume">https://www.democracynow.org/2023/7/28/headlines/supreme_court_will_allow_construction_of_mountain_valley_pipeline_to_resume</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In more climate news, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for construction of the contested Mountain Valley Pipeline to resume. The court on Thursday lifted a halt on a section of the project that had been issued by a lower court earlier this month after a challenge by environmental groups.</font></p></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">npr</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ERIC DEGGANS, HOST:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The federal government finally managed to raise the debt ceiling to avoid default and potential economic catastrophe at the 11th hour, but the bill which achieves that, dubbed the Fiscal Responsibility Act, does a lot more than just lift the debt limit. It also expands work requirements for some benefit recipients, ends the moratorium on federal student loan repayment and fast tracks the long-stalled, controversial Mountain Valley pipeline across West Virginia and into Virginia. NPR's Dave Mistich takes a look at that natural gas line, the controversy surrounding it and why it's included in this legislation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DAVE MISTICH, BYLINE: Maury Johnson was in a bit of a rush earlier this week. He was in the middle of a four-hour drive, barreling down the road from his home in Monroe County, W. Va., toward Washington, D.C.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MAURY JOHNSON: Can you just hang on a second? I'm going to - I can't stop at this guy's driveway.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MISTICH: The 62-year-old former teacher and farmer had planned on a relaxing Memorial Day to kick off the summer. Instead, Johnson learned that legislation to lift the nation's debt ceiling included a section that would greenlight the Mountain Valley Pipeline, so he packed up again and got back on the road.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JOHNSON: I've been up there a lot this spring - two weeks, one week, and I was home for a few days and back up there for 2 1/2 weeks just lobbying, talking to Congress and telling how bad this is.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MISTICH: First proposed in</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;2014, the more than 300-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline, or MVP, stretches across the heart of West Virginia and into Virginia. It cuts through a national forest and through Johnson's property. Work on the MVP has been off and on since 2018, as landowners and other opponents have brought a number of court challenges against the project</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Johnson says the construction that has been accomplished has caused all sorts of problems.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JOHNSON: Just myself, I have documented 240 or more water resource problems all across the state, all the way from Mobley, W. Va., where this thing starts, all the way to the top of Peters Mountain on the border of Virginia and Monroe County.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MISTICH: A spokesperson for&nbsp;<b>Equitrans, one of the five companies behind the MVP</b>&nbsp;and its majority owner, says the pipeline has been subject to an unprecedented level of legal and regulatory review. But they're excited about this legislation to raise the debt ceiling and finish the pipeline. The first person they thanked by name - Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JOE MANCHIN: Nothing has ever been through a review process - that we've been told - in modern day has been reviewed as much as this MVP.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MISTICH: Manchin has been pushing to get this thing done for a long time. He says it's about securing energy independence, and that's why he was hopeful it would be included in the debt ceiling deal.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MANCHIN: I've talked to all the negotiators on both sides of the aisle - Kevin McCarthy and his team and the president and his team. Yes. And I said, you know, on that, this is something that can put this much production this quickly into the line.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MISTICH: Russell Chisholm, managing director of the&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights coalition, based in Newport, Va., says the American public shouldn't have to choose between a national default and the MVP pipeline, which has been plagued by environmental concerns.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RUSSELL CHISHOLM: I think Joe Manchin likes to point to this as some sort of regulatory bureaucracy and red tape that has been slowing things down. The project never should have been approved.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MISTICH: Manchin isn't the only West Virginian championing the MVP. Republican&nbsp;</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Senator Shelley Moore Capito</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;is also hailing its inclusion</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. She noted the debt limit bill will redirect all the court challenges, putting those decisions solely in the hands of the D.C.-based Circuit Court of Appeals.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO: After many, many attempts in the court to shut the entire thing down, it's time to bring it to a close, and this agreement brings it to a close.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MISTICH: Even though the debt ceiling looms over the pipeline fight this time, the passage of the bill doesn't lessen the controversy in the Appalachian Mountains. Opponents of the MVP say they'll continue their fight against the project, legally and otherwise.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dave Mistich, NPR News, Morgantown, W. Va.</font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">also nop</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the controversial natural gas pipeline has been stalled by court challenges — but now the Mountain Valley Pipeline has new momentum, thanks to a debt ceiling deal that gives sweeping approvals to the project.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Fiscal Responsibility Act orders expedited approval of all permits needed to complete the pipeline, which has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/06/1119911325/an-unfinished-natural-gas-pipeline-in-west-virginia-is-back-in-the-national-spot" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">opposed by climate and conservation groups</a>&nbsp;as well as local residents along its path. Backers of the plan say it would boost U.S. energy infrastructure and jobs in Appalachia and the Southeast.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Mountain Valley Pipeline would stretch 303 miles, from West Virginia to North Carolina. But it would cut through the Jefferson National Forest and cross hundreds of waterways and wetlands — and legal battles have held up those crucial sections of the pipeline have been held up for years....

In an extraordinary move, the federal measure would also quash lawsuits against the pipeline project and send any new appeals to the D.C. Circuit rather than the Fourth Circuit, which has regional jurisdiction and which has blocked numerous permits.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1179246766/house-debates-the-biden-mccarthy-debt-ceiling-bill-as-default-deadline-looms" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">approved the legislation</a>&nbsp;Wednesday; it now heads to the Senate.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's a quick recap of where things stand with the pipeline:</font></p><h3 class="edTag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px auto 10px; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 680px; position: relative; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pipeline approval would fulfill Biden's promise to Manchin</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20230529/BILLS-118hrPIH-fiscalresponsibility.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Fiscal Responsibility Act</a>&nbsp;devotes fewer pages to the debt ceiling than it does to the pipeline, a longtime cause for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;</strong>— who holds a critical vote in a closely divided Senate — and Republicans from his state.</font></p><aside id="ad-backstage-wrap" aria-label="advertisement" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="ad-backstage-News_Energy" class="ad-config ad-backstage" data-ad-config="{" network="network" site="site" desktop="desktop" n6735.npr="n6735.NPR" mobile="mobile" n6735.nprmobile="n6735.NPRMOBILE" zone="zone" news_energy="News_Energy" targets="targets" testserver="testserver" false="false" ispodcastepisode="isPodcastEpisode" storyid="storyId" agg="agg" location="location" backstage="backstage" deferred="deferred" isbetweencontent="isBetweenContent" true="true" borderclass="borderClass" overflowcount="overflowCount" null="null" hasrefreshenabled="hasRefreshEnabled" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; text-align: center;" /></aside><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manchin receives three times as much money from pipeline companies as any other member of Congress,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=E1140&cycle=2022&recipdetail=A&sortorder=U" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">according to Open Secrets</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year, Manchin secured a promise from the Biden administration to fast-track the pipeline's completion in exchange for his support of President Biden's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/16/1117709411/biden-signs-sweeping-climate-health-care-tax-bill-into-law" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">climate spending bill</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Equitrans Midstream Corporation, which is managing the pipeline's development and would operate it,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://equitrans2018ipo.q4web.com/news/news-details/2023/Equitrans-Midstream-Announces-First-Quarter-2023-Results/default.aspx" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">recently told shareholders</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;it would </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">likely get all permits approved and have the pipeline ready for operation by the end of 2023, with a total cost of some $6.6 billion.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manchin says<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;</strong>the pipeline<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;</strong>also means big money for his state.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"I've been told it's about $40 million a year in tax revenues to the state of West Virginia," he said, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://wvpublic.org/mountain-valley-pipeline-gets-big-push-in-debt-ceiling-bill/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">West Virginia Public Broadcasting</a>. "And about $300 million a year in revenue to the royalty owners."</font></p><h3 class="edTag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px auto 10px; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 680px; position: relative; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The act shifts legal jurisdiction for court approval</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When Manchin brokered</span><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the 2022</span><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">deal with the White House, his office said it planned to </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"give the D.C. Circuit jurisdiction over any further litigation," rather than the<b> 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va</b>., where judges have repeatedly ruled against the pipeline.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The debt ceiling deal would fulfill that plan. The act states, "no court shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken by the Secretary of the Army, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior," or any state agency, if the action authorizes or permits building and operating the pipeline at full capacity.</font></p><aside id="ad-secondary-wrap" aria-label="advertisement" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The legislation also says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit "shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over any claim alleging the invalidity of this section or that an action is beyond the scope of authority conferred by this section."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, who led Republicans' negotiations with the White House over the debt ceiling, called the deal a GOP victory, saying Democrats are now on the record "supporting a conventional energy project that removes or ties the hands of the judiciary," according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/05/31/debt-deal-mountain-valley-pipeline/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The Washington Post</em></a>, citing a conference call with reporters.</font></p><h3 class="edTag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px auto 10px; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 680px; position: relative; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate groups say pipeline isn't needed and is harmful</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By approving the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Congress would declare that "the timely completion of construction and operation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is required in the national interest."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Exploration and Production Council, a lobbying group for oil and gas producers, hailed the deal, with CEO Anne Bradbury saying in an email to NPR that by approving the pipeline and promising changes to the permitting system, a bureaucratic process will become more streamlined.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/bio/michele-bustamante/mvp-pushed-forward-false-claims-need" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Natural Resources Defense Council disagrees</a>, saying the new deal would remove key avenues for legal and environmental review.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> It also says that much of the official narrative about the pipeline is false — despite claims by Manchin and others, the group says, the pipeline isn't needed and still faces important legal hurdles.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The League of Conservation Voters is also against the pipeline's inclusion in the debt deal.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In an email to NPR, the group's Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs, said that by forcing approval of the pipeline, the debt deal "locks in decades of climate pollution, threatens water quality, and jeopardizes communities in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, especially low-income, elderly, Indigenous, and Black communities."</span></font></p><aside id="ad-third-wrap" aria-label="advertisement" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="ad-third-News_Energy" class="ad-config ad-third" data-ad-config="{" network="network" site="site" desktop="desktop" nprthird="NPRThird" mobile="mobile" nprmobilethird="NPRMobileThird" zone="zone" news_energy="News_Energy" targets="targets" testserver="testserver" false="false" ispodcastepisode="isPodcastEpisode" storyid="storyId" agg="agg" location="location" third="third" deferred="deferred" isbetweencontent="isBetweenContent" true="true" borderclass="borderClass" overflowcount="overflowCount" null="null" hasrefreshenabled="hasRefreshEnabled" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; text-align: center;" /></aside><h3 class="edTag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px auto 10px; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 680px; position: relative; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The debt deal has critics on the left and right</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the most conservative House members are furious with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/30/1178878967/mccarthy-house-conservatives-debt-ceiling-deal-vote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">over the the debt ceiling deal</a>, saying it gives Democrats too many concessions and doesn't go far enough in reaching Republican goals.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some progressive Democrats&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/30/1178919224/to-progressive-rep-greg-casar-debt-ceiling-agreement-is-lose-lose-situation" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">are also unhappy</a>, saying the Biden administration isn't delivering on its promises to support clean energy rather than fossil fuels, along with allowing cuts or restrictions to food programs and other assistance for vulnerable Americans.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics are also asking why the debt deal legislation, which runs to 99 pages, devotes so much space to other matters, like revamping the federal permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.7; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 680px; position: static; float: none; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked about those concerns, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said on Tuesday, "I've worked in many divided government situations. I think this is where you would expect a bipartisan agreement to land. It's just the reality."</font></p></aside></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;

===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">h<a href="https://roanoke.com/news/local/another-delay-and-cost-increase-announced-for-mountain-valley-pipeline/

">Another delay and cost increase announced for Mountain Valley Pipeline<...

>May 3, 2022 75 Mountain Valley Pipeline will again ... delaying completion to the second half of 2023 and boosting the project's cost...</a></font></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">huh?</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/granholms-mountain-valley-pipeline-support-creates-firestorm/">https://www.eenews.net/articles/granholms-mountain-valley-pipeline-support-creates-firestorm/</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">===</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an comm dr 12 22</font></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Senate Majority Leader Chuck</strong><b>&nbsp;Schumer said Tuesday that he intends to force a floor vote as soon as this week in a bid to ram through Sen. Joe Manchin</b>'s fossil fuel industry-friendly permitting bill, a ploy that climate groups and progressive lawmakers condemned and vowed to defeat.</font></span></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schumer's (D-N.Y.) planned maneuver, which he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/senate-to-vote-on-manchins-permitting-overhaul/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">confirmed</a>&nbsp;to reporters Tuesday, amounts to a last-ditch attempt to salvage legislation that has thus far&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/07/joe-manchin-legislation-energy-fast-track-democrats-defense-act" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">failed</a>&nbsp;to garner sufficient support to pass Congress. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/2022/12/manchin-releases-permitting-text-and-urges-colleagues-to-support-mvp-and-permitting-amendment-to-ndaa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">permitting bill</a>&nbsp;has also drawn&nbsp;<a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/750-groups-blast-manchin-ploy-to-include-dirty-deal-in-defense-bill-2022-12-05/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">sustained and furious protests</a>&nbsp;from environmentalists, who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/05/groups-warn-pelosi-schumer-against-allowing-manchin-dirty-deal-pentagon-spending" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">warn</a>&nbsp;the measure would expedite climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects—including Manchin's favored Mountain Valley Pipeline—and weaken bedrock environmental laws.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"This is abhorrent," the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/FightFossils/status/1602769781773717506" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wrote on Twitter</a>&nbsp;in response to Schumer's plan. "We've stopped this TWICE</b>&nbsp;now because it sells our communities and planet out for fossil fuel profits. If you haven't already, please take a min to call your senator and ask them to vote against this: 888-997-5380. We cannot afford any more fossil fuel projects."</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Schumer said Tuesday that Manchin's proposal—which climate advocates have labeled a "dirty deal" and a "fossil fuel wish list"—will receive a floor vote as an amendment to the&nbsp;</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sprawling legislation that is set to authorize&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/08/war-industry-celebrating-christmas-early-house-passes-858-billion-ndaa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">nearly $860 billion</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in military spending.</span></b></font></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schumer and Manchin have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/climate/manchin-schumer-pipeline-political-funding.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">received large donations</a>&nbsp;from a major utility giant and pipeline firms that would benefit from passage of the West Virginia Democrat's plan, which critics say&nbsp;<a href="https://prospect.org/environment/permitting-reform-decoy-ramping-up-natural-gas-manchin/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">uses the cover of permitting reform</a>&nbsp;to advance regulatory changes long sought by the fossil fuel industry.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We're gonna vote on that amendment," the Democratic leader&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/senate-to-vote-on-manchins-permitting-overhaul/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told</a>&nbsp;reporters Tuesday. "As you know, Republicans have blocked it in the House, even though permitting reform is something that they've always supported in the past. So I hope they'll help us."</font></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What Schumer didn't mention is the significant opposition from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/09/72-house-democrats-tell-pelosi-keep-manchins-dirty-deal-out-must-pass-legislation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Democratic lawmakers</a>&nbsp;in both the House and Senate. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/chemical-safety-waste-management-environmental-justice-and-regulatory-oversight" an="an" environmental="environmental" justice="justice" and="and" regulatory="regulatory" oversight="oversight" subcommittee="subcommittee" made="made" clear="clear" he="he" would="would" vote="vote" against="against" the="the" latest="latest" effort="effort" to="to" revive="revive" manchin="Manchin" s="s" proposal="proposal" /></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/chemical-safety-waste-management-environmental-justice-and-regulatory-oversight" an="an" environmental="environmental" justice="justice" and="and" regulatory="regulatory" oversight="oversight" subcommittee="subcommittee" made="made" clear="clear" he="he" would="would" vote="vote" against="against" the="the" latest="latest" effort="effort" to="to" revive="revive" manchin="Manchin" s="s" proposal="proposal"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"I cannot vote for a deal that cuts community non-profits out of the environmental reviews, further burdens frontline communities with toxic fossil projects, runs a fossil gas pipeline over every existing environmental law, and rigs the court system to boot," Merkley said Tuesday, referring to a provision in the bill thathttps://www.eenews.net/articles/manchin-permitting-deal-could-handcuff-courts/"&nbsp;

;would likely result in more favorable rulings for pipeline developers.</font></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/chemical-safety-waste-management-environmental-justice-and-regulatory-oversight" an="an" environmental="environmental" justice="justice" and="and" regulatory="regulatory" oversight="oversight" subcommittee="subcommittee" made="made" clear="clear" he="he" would="would" vote="vote" against="against" the="the" latest="latest" effort="effort" to="to" revive="revive" manchin="Manchin" s="s" proposal="proposal"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"We need improved permitting for renewable energy projects," Merkley added, "but this is not the way to do it....

[twt]</font></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/chemical-safety-waste-management-environmental-justice-and-regulatory-oversight" an="an" environmental="environmental" justice="justice" and="and" regulatory="regulatory" oversight="oversight" subcommittee="subcommittee" made="made" clear="clear" he="he" would="would" vote="vote" against="against" the="the" latest="latest" effort="effort" to="to" revive="revive" manchin="Manchin" s="s" proposal="proposal"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it's unclear whether Manchin's bill stands a chance in the upcoming Senate floor vote, with key Republicans including Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)&nbsp;</font></b></a><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/senate-to-vote-on-manchins-permitting-overhaul/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">pledging to vote no</a>.</font></b></font></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In September, Manchin—who has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/13/manchin-calls-big-oil-ceos-help-ram-through-dirty-deal-backlash-grows" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">enlisted the help</a>&nbsp;of oil and gas CEOs—was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/28/manchin-senate-permitting-reform-00059152" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">forced to withdraw</a>&nbsp;his permitting legislation after it became obvious it would crash and burn in a vote on the Senate floor.</font></span></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manchin, the top recipient of fossil fuel industry campaign donations in Congress, suffered another defeat earlier this month when Democratic leaders dropped their initial plans to attach his legislation to the NDAA.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The zombie dirty deal to fast track fossil fuel projects—like the destructive&nbsp;<b>Mountain Valley Pipeline—is raising its ugly head again," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.</b>), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RepRaulGrijalva/status/1602781545449807872" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;Tuesday in response to Schumer's comments. "100+ [environmental justice] orgs have spoken. The House has spoken. No one wants this deal."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's time to let it go for good," Grijalva added.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an 12 22 comn dr</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A broad coalition of environmentalists, public health campaigners, and progressive advocacy organizations on Monday issued a stern warning to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to include the so-called "<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/10/04/manchins-dirty-deal-isnt-dead-yet-we-have-shown-it-can-be-killed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">dirty deal</a>" on energy project permitting reforms in the mammoth military spending bill set to roll through Congress this month.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Dirty-Deal-Letter-II-final_12.2.22.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">letter</a>&nbsp;signed by more than 750 groups collectively representing millions of American constituents, the coalition calls on Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Pelosi (D-Calif.) to "unequivocally reject any effort to promote fossil fuels, advance unproven technologies, and weaken our core environmental laws" as it urges the two Democratic leaders to "stand with the communities who continue to bear the brunt of harm from fossil fuels" and act in ways "to prevent wholesale climate disaster."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kept out of a must-pass&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/27/people-power-has-won-day-manchin-dirty-deal-defeated" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">stopgap funding bill</a>&nbsp;in September, the permitting reform package is the darling of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has tried to force the proposal through on several occasions as part of his agreement earlier this year to support the watered-down Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that passed both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden. Since its earlier defeats, Manchin now wants to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to force it through despite widespread opposition from expert critics, most members of his own Democratic Party, and outside campaigners.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Sunday,&nbsp;The Washington Post&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/04/manchin-permitting-reform-bill/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported</a>—citing two people who requested anonymity to "describe private conversations"—that Pelosi "has been in talks with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) about attaching a version of Manchin's permitting bill" to the NDAA.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the&nbsp;<em>Post</em>, the text of the NDAA with the controversial permitting reforms included could be released as early as Monday, though the sources cited in the reporting indicated the situation remains fluid and the legislative plans were "subject to change" prior to any vote.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While Manchin's push for permitting reforms was previously defeated, its possible inclusion in the massive military spending bill, also seen as must-pass legislation, has outraged environmentalists and climate campaigners who argue that the nation must end investments in new fossil fuel infrastructure—including the Mountain Valley Pipeline which would run through West Virginia—in order to make way for the renewable energy transition necessary to stave off the worst impacts of rising global temperatures.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Manchin's dirty deal is just as toxic and dangerous as before," said Gaby Sarri-Tobar, energy justice campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity,&nbsp;</b>which spearheaded the letter. "This obvious fossil fuel giveaway would devastate communities and set back efforts to avoid a climate catastrophe. Especially after the administration's support of phasing down fossil fuels at the global climate conference, President Biden and Congress have to stop pandering to one senator's climate-killing agenda and reject any attempts to tack this poison pill to must-pass legislation."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate campaigners worldwide decried the failure of the U.N.-backed COP27 climate conference in Egypt that concluded last month without new and binding emissions reduction targets, especially for wealthy and high-polluting nations like the United States, where the fossil fuel industry maintains a powerful grip on lawmakers and government policy.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the letter sent Monday, the groups said: "This fossil fuel wish list associated with the Inflation Reduction Act side deal, the so called Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), is a cruel and direct attack on environmental justice communities and the climate writ large. This legislation would truncate and hollow-out the environmental review process, weaken Tribal consultations, and make it far harder for frontline communities to have their voices heard. It guts bedrock protections in the National Environmental Policy Act and a previous version also gutted the Clean Water Act."[twit]</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">under no circumstances should Democratic lawmakers feel compelled to honor a deal brokered with Manchin behind closed doors, say campaigners, especially as it represents such a blatant giveaway to the fossil fuel industry and other powerful corporate interests who have bankrolled the senator's political career.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Once again, the health and dignity of tribal communities across the country are being threatened by the greed of the fossil fuel industry and the elected officials on their payroll," said Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, which also signed the letter.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"We're sick of having to fight to defend the basic bedrock environmental laws that allow our voices to be heard, while the climate crisis proliferates,"&nbsp;</b>Cavalier-Keck continued. "Every lawmaker who is accountable to their constituents, especially those facing the most severe environmental injustices, must do all in their power to block this bill and all future attempts to risk our lives for a profit."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Donna Chavis of Friends of the Earth said over the weekend that elected lawmakers in Congress "must act right now to kill this dirty deal for good.</b>" She warned that "further silencing the voices most impacted by the climate crisis would erase the Biden administration's positive steps forward on environmental justice."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Campaigners like Jim Walsh, who serves as policy director at&nbsp;<b>Food & Water Watch</b>, vowed that opponents of the permitting deal would not rest in the fight to see the Manchin proposal—and others like it—defeated.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Manchin's proposal serves the interests of the dirty energy companies that have supported his political career," Walsh said. "We will continue to oppose any schemes that incentivize fossil fuel expansion, undercut environmental and democratic protections, and sacrifice communities to the interests of corporate polluters."</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/2022/09/29/manchin-permitting-reform-mountain-valley-pipeline-future/">https://www.desmog.com/2022/09/29/manchin-permitting-reform-mountain-valley-pipeline-future/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;report</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/30/despite-splashy-net-zero-vows-big-banks-dumping-trillions-fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.commondreams.org/news<b>/2022/03</b>/30/despite-splashy-net-zero-vows-big-banks-dumping-trillions-fossil-fuels</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><h1 class="mb-2" id="node-title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.125; margin-bottom: 1rem !important;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">despite 'Splashy' Net-Zero Vows, Big Banks Dumping Trillions Into Fossil Fuels</font></span></h1><div class="block" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="headlinefield-subtitle text-lg tracking-tighter leading-tightest" style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: -0.1px; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"With Wall Street banks leading the charge, these financial institutions are directly complicit in undermining a climate-stable future for us all."</font></div></div><div class="block" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="py-5 d-flex align-items-start" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex !important; align-items: flex-start !important; padding-top: 2.5rem !important; padding-bottom: 2.5rem !important;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="text-xs text-uppercase font-weight-bold mb-0" style="margin-top: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; font-weight: 700 !important;"><span lang="en" about="/author/jake-johnson" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/jake-johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JAKE JOHNSON</font></a></span></p><span class="text-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 30, 2022</font></span></div></div></div><div class="block" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="headlinebody prose nodebody" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 800;">Flouting their public vows</span>&nbsp;to put themselves and their clients on a path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, the world's 60 largest private banks have provided a total of $4.6 trillion in financing for the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement entered into force in 2016.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That's according to the latest edition of&nbsp;<a href="https://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2022/03/Banking-on-Climate-Chaos-2022.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Banking on Climate Chaos</span></a>, an annual report that tracks the banking industry's funding of oil and gas initiatives that are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/22/rich-nations-must-cut-oil-and-gas-2034-keep-climate-hopes-alive-report" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">threatening</a>&nbsp;global hopes of reining in carbon pollution and averting climate disaster.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 2021 alone, the report finds, the world's biggest private-sector banks financed oil and gas to the tune of $742 billion. That year, the 60 banks featured in the new analysis poured $185.5 billion into the 100 companies doing the most to expand the fossil-fuel sector worldwide through offshore drilling, fracking, coal mining, liquefied natural gas infrastructure, and more</b>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Authored by Oil Change International, the Rainforest Action Network, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and other groups and endorsed by hundreds of organizations from around the world, the report published Wednesday spotlights the marked contrast between banks' public commitments to net-zero emissions targets and their actions, which reflect a continued stake in fossil fuel development.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The worst offenders in the banking industry, according to the report, are the U.S. financial behemoths&nbsp;<b>JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America,&nbsp;</b>which together accounted for 25% of all fossil fuel financing identified over the past six years.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report highlights a number of specific projects, including the</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/03/federal-court-deals-blow-noxious-fracked-gas-mountain-valley-pipeline" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a>&nbsp;(funded by JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America)</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, drilling in offshore Guyana (funded by JPMorgan Chase, Citi, and Bank of America), and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/line-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Line 3 Pipeline</a>&nbsp;(funded by TD, Scotiabank, and the Bank of Montreal), efforts that have drawn fierce resistance from Indigenous communities.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Indigenous peoples have long been leading the fight for the sacredness of the land, water, and Earth," Mea Johnson, divestment campaign coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said in a statement Wednesday. "Mother Earth has always given us what we need to thrive. We will not back down until our natural balance is restored and anyone helping fund the extractive destruction of our communities will be held accountable."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alison Kirsch, research and policy manager at the Rainforest Action Network, added that "any further expansion of fossil fuels risks locking humanity into generations of climate catastrophe, yet the top fossil clients of the world's largest banks are still being showered with tens of billions of dollars even as they actively expand drilling, mining, fracking, and other fossil fuel development unabated."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"With Wall Street banks leading the charge," Kirsch added, "these financial institutions are directly complicit in undermining a climate-stable future for us all and must immediately end their support of any further fossil fuel infrastructure expansion."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The banks' financing decisions fly in the face of their own&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/02/11/bank-america-sets-net-zero-emissions-target-without-key-details-get-there" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;">pledges</a>&nbsp;to bring their policies into line with critical climate goals, such as achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a benchmark that 44 of the 60 banks profiled in the new report have backed.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
"But global banks have massively supported the companies doing the most to open new oil and gas fields," notes the new report. "Banks with net-zero commitments last year... financed the top 20 upstream oil and gas expansion companies, potentially helping to lock the planet into decades of climate-warming emissions."&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">According to</a>&nbsp;the International Energy Agency, reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 would mean ensuring "no new oil and gas fields."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adele Shraiman, a representative for the<b>&nbsp;Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign,</b>&nbsp;said Wednesday that the analysis "makes it clear that banks must clean up their act and stop funding the expansion of dirty fossil fuel projects like fracked gas exports, tar sands pipelines, and offshore drilling in order to align with what the science demands and what their own commitments require."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Despite their splashy climate pledges, big banks have largely continued with business-as-usual and actually increased their overall fossil fuel financing since the Paris Agreement," said Shraiman. "As we look ahead to shareholder season, we'll be keeping up the pressure on the banks and their investors to take these critical reforms seriously and stop bankrolling the fossil fuel industry's reckless expansion plans."</font></p></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/03/federal-court-deals-blow-noxious-fracked-gas-mountain-valley-pipeline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/03/federal-court-deals-blow-noxious-fracked-gas-mountain-valley-pipeline</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>federal Court Deals Blow to 'Noxious Fracked Gas' Mountain Valley Pipeline</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"MVP is not compatible with a healthy planet and livable communities," said a Sierra Club campaigner. "MVP must not move forward."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JESSICA CORBETT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>February 3, 2022</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Climate campaigners celebrated Thursday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit delivered yet another blow to a controversial gas project spanning over 300 miles in Virginia and West Virginia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This decision again reinforces the truth that this destructive project must not be allowed to continue."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"At a time when we need to urgently move away from fracked-gas pipelines and all the harms they bring—from impacts to endangered species to damage to water quality to climate change—the law and science prevailed in this case," declared Anne Havemann, general counsel of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A three-judge panel from the Richmond-based federal appeals court threw out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' assessment of how the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would impact two endangered fish species: the Roanoke logperch and the candy darter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If a species is already speeding toward the extinction cliff, an agency may not press on the gas. We urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to consider this directive carefully while reassessing impacts to the two endangered fish at issue, especially the apparently not-long-for-this-world candy darter," Judge James Wynn wrote in the court's opinion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We recognize that this decision will further delay the completion of an already mostly finished pipeline," Wynn added, "but the Endangered Species Act's directive to federal agencies could not be clearer: 'halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost.'"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the five companies behind the pipeline said that "we remain committed to completing the MVP project and believe the concerns associated with MVP's biological opinion can be addressed by the agency," climate campaigners expressed hope this will help kill the project.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Sacred life prevailed today with the court's acknowledgment of the harmful impact MVP has on everything in its path, specifically endangered and threatened species," said Russell Chisholm, co-chair of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition. "Holding MVP accountable to the law is key to the ultimate cancellation of this noxious fracked gas pipeline."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This decision not only protects the candy darter and other endangered species," he continued, "it sets us on course to stop MVP, decisively transition away from deadly fossil fuels, and reroute towards a renewable economy on a livable planet."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Calling the court's move a "sweetly welcome decision in our fight to stop the ravage of MVP," Roberta Bondurant of Preserve Bent Mountain—which is part of the POWHR Coalition—pointed out that the local opponents along the pipeline's route "have fought relentlessly, and at unspeakable costs, to protect forest, meadow, and waters of our venerable Appalachians."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director for&nbsp;<b>Appalachian Voices</b>, noted that "communities in this region rely on its rich biodiversity to support many recreational and economic opportunities."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While lambasting the failure of "agencies that should be guardians of our most precious resources and the public interest, Wild Virginia conservation director David Sligh welcomed the win for "sensitive and valuable species, which have already been harmed by MVP's pollution."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This decision again reinforces the truth that this destructive project must not be allowed to continue," Sligh said. "The company needs to face that fact now and should be forced to help heal the wounds it has inflicted."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Along with cheering the "incredible victory" in court, Jared Margolis, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, put the controversial project into a broader context.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a fossil fuel nightmare that threatens the essential habitat of imperiled wildlife," he said. "These projects lock us into an unsustainable spiral of climate change that inflicts incredible damage to vulnerable species. That cycle must end."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a fossil fuel nightmare that threatens the essential habitat of imperiled wildlife."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thursday's decision is "the third blow the pipeline has received in just over a week," Virginia Mercury reported, noting that on January 25, the same court "yanked the project's Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approvals, finding that those agencies' evaluations of impacts had been inadequate."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Acknowledging the project's recent setbacks, Sierra Club senior director of energy campaigns Kelly Sheehan—whose group argued the case on behalf of conservation groups—said that "the previous administration's rushed, shoddy permitting put the entire project in question."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Now, the Biden administration must fulfill the commitments it has made on climate and environmental justice by taking a meaningful, thorough review of this project and its permitting," she said. "When they do, they will see the science is clear: MVP is not compatible with a healthy planet and livable communities. MVP must not move forward."</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-2609999282.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-2609999282.html</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Communities along the 300-mile proposed route for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a>&nbsp;(MVP) heard some good news this week. On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/th-circuit-court-vacates-mountain-valley-pipeline-permit/article_9d1fb5ae-79b6-5d14-8129-842a462401ec.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">voted to vacate</a>&nbsp;a permit required by the Clean Water Act, which was previously issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The ruling stated the Army Corps lacked the authority to substitute one type of construction for another for the natural gas pipeline, which would crisscross rivers and other sensitive aquatic ecosystems hundreds of times between northern West Virginia and southern Virginia.&nbsp; The case—brought by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Sierra Club</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="http://wvrivers.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">West Virginia Rivers Coalition</a>, and other citizen organizations—does not kill the project outright, but it is a significant roadblock.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MVP is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/controversial-new-pipelines-may-slice-through-southeast" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">one of two</a>&nbsp;pipelines (the other is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/atlantic-coast-pipeline" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Atlantic Coast Pipeline</a>) that have drummed up&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/virginians-fly-flags-resistance-fight-against-two-pipelines" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">fierce public backlash</a>&nbsp;across the region. Concerned residents have been peacefully protesting the projects for months, sometimes among the trees they would be helping to save.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-halted-2593256634.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-halted-2593256634.html</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FERC Halts Work on Mountain Valley Pipeline</font></h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font></p><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2593256634" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="FERC Halts Work on Mountain Valley Pipeline" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Friday, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered work stopped on the controversial&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mountain Valley Pipeline</a>&nbsp;that would carry fracked&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">natural gas</a>&nbsp;along a 303-mile route from West Virginia to Virginia,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eqt-mountain-valley-natgas-pipeline/us-halts-construction-on-eqt-west-virginia-to-virginia-mountain-valley-gas-pipeline-idUSKBN1KP0NF" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Reuters reported</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The order is the consequence of a legal victory for pipeline opponents July 27, in which three federal appeals judges revoked two permits for the pipeline to cross the Jefferson National Forest, ruling that the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management had not properly reviewed the project before issuing the permits,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/federal-judges-revoke-permit-for-pipeline-saying-impact-on-national-forest-in-va-not-fully-reviewed/2018/07/27/9cbb3904-91d0-11e8-b769-e3fff17f0689_story.html?utm_term=.6cb1b366ff5c" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Washington Post reported</a>. The judges ordered the agencies to redo the permits.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Should the agencies authorize alternative routes, (Mountain Valley) may need to revise substantial portions of the project route across non-federal lands, possibly requiring further authorizations and environmental review," FERC said in explaining its decision to halt construction, Reuters reported.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;Sierra Club</a>, one of the environmental groups that brought the suit against the pipeline, applauded the FERC's decision.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We have said all along that we can't trust polluting corporations to protect our water and we're relieved to see construction temporarily halted along the entire route of the MVP," Sierra Club senior attorney Nathan Matthews said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2018/08/ferc-orders-stop-all-construction-fracked-gas-mountain-valley-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a>. "This order is a victory for everyone who values clean water and a wake-up call for those who think they can put profits over people. There is no right way to build these dirty, dangerous fracked gas pipelines and we will continue to fight them until construction is stopped permanently."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Natalie Cox, spokesperson for&nbsp;<b>EQT Corp</b>., the company leading construction on the pipeline, told Reuters in an email that the company "respectfully disagrees with the breadth of the August 3 stop work order."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We will continue to work closely with all agencies to resolve these issues and look forward to continuing the safe construction of this important infrastructure project," Cox said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline have been fighting it with a combination of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-protesters-2571084795.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tree sits</a>&nbsp;and lawsuits.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June, the FERC announced that the pipeline&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-to-halt-construction-2581450004.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">had to stop construction</a>&nbsp;more than 591 streams and wetlands in West Virginia following another appeals court decision in favor of environmental groups.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Opponents hope a mass of legal victories can stop the project all together, and shine a light on an FERC approval process that goes too easy on developers.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We hoped this case will put a brake on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which is running roughshod over the environmental planning process,"&nbsp;<a href="https://wilderness.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wilderness Society</a>&nbsp;conservationist Hugh Irwin told The Washington Post of the lawsuit that led to the current stoppage, to which his organization was a party. "Significant environmental concerns were brushed aside and inadequately analyzed," he said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Mountain Valley Pipeline is seen by opponents as a particularly egregious example of a project that ignored environmental and community concerns.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Quite frankly, Mountain Valley Pipeline has become a good example of bad energy development,"&nbsp;<a href="https://appalachiantrail.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Appalachian Trail Conservancy</a>&nbsp;said in a&nbsp;<a href="http://appalachiantrail.org/home/conservation/advocacy/mountain-valley-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a>. "Currently the steep mountainsides near Roanoke are being carved, gashed and ripped up. Unusually heavy rainfall this year has, from when the earthmovers first fired up, exposed the recklessness of this pipeline developer," they wrote.</font><div class="around-the-web"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-state-dept-keystone-xl-pipeline-2591451415.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump State Dept. Attempts 'Shortcut' to Build KXL Pipeline, Groups ... ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pipeline-explosions-in-texas-2592070518.html" class="around-the-web__link" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">7 Hospitalized After Pipeline Explosions in Texas ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p></div>