Mountain Valley Pipeline Inclusion in Debt Ceiling Bill Sets Dangerous Precedent

Last night, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a debt ceiling deal that would expedite the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline, despite significant public opposition to the project and serious concerns about its impact on clean water, climate, and communities along the route. The bill would also needlessly undermine parts of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock environmental law and cap funding for agencies that protect our air, water, and the climate. As the Senate prepares to take up this legislation, environmental advocates are raising alarms about the precedent set by legislating approval of this fracked gas pipeline. 

“Congress should be extremely wary of the dangerous precedent set by fossil fuel industry allies’ legislative end run to force approval for the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous. “Letting this gambit move forward risks opening the floodgates to any pet fossil fuel project across the country to be completely exempted from environmental protections. We continue to urge Congress to reject this dirty deal and swiftly pass a clean bill.”  

Should the bill move forward, it could allow for future congressional action to force through other controversial fossil fuel infrastructure, including: 

• Line 5 is a 70-year-old tar sands oil pipeline that runs through the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin. This aging line has significantly deteriorated over the last several decades. It poses risks to tribal lands, pristine natural areas, drinking water sources, and farmland that it cuts through. The Bad River Band is leading a legal fight to shut down Line 5 in Wisconsin, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the pipeline to be shut down in the Straits of Mackinac. Instead of complying with the shutdown order, Enbridge is trying to fast-track permitting for a disastrous oil tunnel to keep raking in profits for shareholders while putting one-fifth of the world's fresh water at risk from a catastrophic oil spill. Enbridge is currently seeking a federal water crossing permit for its proposed tunnel project that would house the pipeline where it crosses the Great Lakes from the Army Corps of Engineers
   
• The proposed Northern Access pipeline would ship .35 billion cubic feet of fracked gas 99 miles through Pennsylvania into New York, amounting to the climate equivalent of four or five coal-burning power plants. Initial certifications for the pipeline, issued in 2017, have expired, and Northern Access is now the subject of ongoing litigation over extensions granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
   
• The Wyalusing and Gibbstown LNG facilities are part of a unified LNG export scheme that would take fracked gas from Pennsylvania, compress it into LNG, then transport it by truck or train across communities in Pennsylvania to be loaded onto ships at a terminal in Gibbstown, New Jersey, before being shipped to overseas markets. If built, the Wyalusing plant would be allowed to emit more than a million tons of climate-polluting greenhouse gasses every year, as well as hundreds of tons of noxious air pollutants that would impact the local community. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently denied an extension for a critical permit for the project, casting doubt on its future. 
   
• Tennessee Valley Authority is planning to replace its retiring Cumberland and Kingston coal plants with new methane gas plants, which would require the construction of approximately 149 miles of gas pipelines through communities in East and Middle Tennessee, imperiling popular waterways and threatening endangered species. The utility’s fossil fuel legacy and lack of public engagement has already disproportionately harmed workers and environmental justice communities. The proposed project has not yet received any of the necessary federal permits to proceed.