PIPE DREAM

Manchin Forces Approval of Embattled WV Pipeline in Debt Ceiling Deal

Sen. Joe Manchin's provision in the debt ceiling bill would grant approval to a controversial pipeline despite objections from environmental groups and the courts.

Environmentalist groups are seething after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) managed to win approval for a long-embattled pipeline project as part of the debt ceiling deal. The project in question, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, would funnel gas from West Virginia oil fields across protected forests and waterways to neighboring Virginia, according to CNN. Lawsuits from environmental groups have stalled the project, and courts have repeatedly rejected its permits for environmental violations. Now, Manchin—a longtime supporter of the oil and gas industry—has secured a carve-out in the debt ceiling deal that would potentially ram the project through the approval process and insulate it from future lawsuits. Pro-environmental protection groups and lawmakers are, predictably, irked—and some lawmakers have proposed amendments to the deal that would nix the pipeline provision.