ROANOKE, Va. – The controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline Project could get the final push it needs in the debt-ceiling agreement awaiting final confirmation.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy came to an agreement on the country’s debt limit. The full bill was released on Sunday and some Virginia leaders are not happy with one component of the agreement.
Included in the text of the deal is a provision that would approve the remaining permits for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The pipeline was first proposed in 2014. It’s now partially built; the company behind the pipeline says it’s 90% done. Multiple lawsuits regarding the project’s permits have primarily kept it from finishing.
Now with the possibility of a bill expediting the process, both state and federal lawmakers are weighing in.
A spokesperson for U.S. Senator Tim Kaine sent a statement saying:
Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul is calling on Congress to throw out the provision.
The project since the beginning has been championed by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
“I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line,” Manchin said in a statement sent to 10 News.
With Congress given a June 5 deadline to pass a debt-limit agreement, lawmakers up in D.C. will be spending the next couple of days hoping to agree on something that won’t put the country into default.
The House could vote Wednesday, with a vote in the Senate later this week.