Update: The Supreme Court, without dissent, lifted the 4th Circuit's stay so construction of Joe's favorite pipe can continue on Thursday.
The price of Joe Manchin's support for raising the debt ceiling was approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline through the Appalachians. The project was temporarily halted when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Richmond issued a stay order on Monday affecting a segment passing through the Jefferson National Forest. Manchin backed the project in the Senate, and was visibly peeved that it got blocked by a federal court. He tweeted his displeasure by calling the order unlawful. One of the provisions of the debt ceiling bill removed the Fourth Circuit's jurisdiction over the project and gave it to the DC Court of Appeals. Whether this provision is constitutional remains to be seen. The Wilderness Society's case against the pipeline will probably end up in the Supreme Court on jurisdictional grounds.
The Fourth Circuit has repeatedly issued orders against he project going forward, including unanimously vacating its federal permits in April. Local opposition to the project is significant, and inclusion of the pipeline in the debt ceiling deal was controversial in the Senate. The pipeline is about 55% complete, projected to extend 303 miles through Virginia and West Virginia. Since construction began in 2018 at least 350 water quality violations have occurred. Mudslides, rolling equipment, slipped pipe and muddy waterways and behind schedule budget overruns have also resulted. The fast-tracking of this fossil fuel project to appease one Senator is in stark contrast to the administration's efforts to do something significant about global climate change, and another example of bad policy being made by closely divided government.
