WASHINGTON, D.C. (WBOY) — The U.S. Senate Thursday evening approved a package raising the debt ceiling, which also included approval for the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which has had its permits tied up.
The United States Treasury had predicted that if a deal wasn’t passed by Monday, June 5, the country would risk defaulting on its bills.
The deal has been dubbed “The Fiscal Responsibility Act” and included a streamlining of the federal permitting process and an overhaul of environmental regulations as well as essentially ensuring the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
This follows a previous attempt by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to get the project cleared in the “Inflation Reduction Act.”
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act” now goes to President Biden.
Manchin released the following statement about the Mountain Valley Pipeline on Friday:
I am proud to announce that we have finally secured the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and have done so with broad, bipartisan support. For more than nine months, I have worked tirelessly to build consensus and garner the support necessary to complete MVP. Last fall, my bill to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline received a bipartisan vote on the Senate floor but failed to receive the Republican support necessary to become law. But it was too important to the energy security of our country to give up. After that, I doubled down to build support by working with Speaker McCarthy, Leader Schumer, White House officials and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate to make the case for this critical energy security project. I am thrilled that Republicans and Democrats came together to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline and shore up American energy security.
West Virginia is truly America’s Energy MVP and we are proud to continue providing the energy the rest of our nation relies on. This transformational project will create more than 2,500 jobs, generate $50 million in tax revenueand more than $175 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners, and play a significant role in strengthening our domestic energy production which will lower costs for consumers in West Virginia and across the country.
Perhaps even more importantly, the MVP opens up markets for our natural resources, giving us untold new revenue sources and developing industries that our grandchildren and future generations will benefit from. The project has gone through three rounds of permitting approvals at various federal agencies, which included six environmental impact statements, so we know it will be completed in a manner that protects West Virginia’s lands and waters.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline was part of a broader, bipartisan deal to prevent the American government from defaulting on our loans, ensure we are able to pay our bills and prevent irreparable harm to our financial system. By working in a bipartisan fashion, we were able to protect Medicare, Social Security, and benefits for our Veterans.
The passage of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the critical agreement to avoid default is yet another example of the solutions that can be reached when we work in a bipartisan way to deliver results for the American people and I will keep working on lasting, bipartisan solutions that address the needs of West Virginians. Again, West Virginia is America’s Energy MVP, not only because we power the nation, but also because we show the nation that when you work together, you can accomplish great things for our country.
