Sen. Manchin Finally Releases “Save MVP” Permitting Bill – DOA?
Yesterday evening, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (from West Virginia) finally released a draft bill that purportedly streamlines the permitting process for oil and gas pipelines, among other things. The bill, called the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022, also clears away the remaining roadblocks to complete the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline that travels through WV and into Virginia. MVP is 94% done and in the ground, yet anti-fossil fuel wackos keep blocking its completion with frivolous lawsuits and colluding federal judges. Manchin wants to blast through it and get it done, to his credit.
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It appears that Sen. Joe Manchin’s “save MVP bill” (otherwise known as the permitting reform bill) is crashing and burning. No official language or text of the bill has been released. Yet. Why is that? Manchin extracted a promise from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that a bill to finish up Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and streamline permitting for future pipeline projects would be brought to a vote and passed–IF old Joe voted in favor of the horrible Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a bill (now law) that damages the fossil fuel industry. Joe got rolled. He voted to pass the IRA, and now more than one-third of House Democrats and at least one Senate Democrat (crazy Bernie Sanders) have pledged to vote against Manchin’s bill, leaving him high and dry with nothing to show for his sellout on IRA. So Manchin turned to Republicans to save his tattered reputation–and they aren’t having it. Republicans refuse to reward Manchin’s sellout. Manchin calls it “revenge politics.” We call it eating the excrement sandwich you prepared for yourself, Joe.
The Catholic nuns of Lancaster County’s Adorers of the Blood of Christ are still, all these years later, trying to shake down Williams for more money because of a pipeline that runs underneath a cornfield owned by the sisters (hence our nickname for them). Using lawyers from Big Green groups, the nuns are arguing their “religious beliefs” were offended by the pipeline because it flows a nasty, filthy fossil fuel that causes global warming. Even though the sisters own and operate a home heated by natural gas at the same location! Williams should be suing the nuns, not the other way around.
Since the beginning of Joe Manchin’s so-called “side deal” to vote on a bill that will reform the permitting process for infrastructure projects including the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), Republicans in the Senate (and House) have called on Manchin and Chuck Schumer to release actual language of the bill that will be voted on. You know, release it at least a week or two before it gets voted on, instead of two hours before (which is the Democrats’ typical routine). So far, NOTHING from Manchin and Schumer. So on Monday, Manchin’s fellow U.S. Senator from West Virginia, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, introduced her own version of a permitting reform bill. The bill has the support of 45 Republican Senators so far (38 of them co-sponsored).
On Friday, Paul Cicio, CEO of Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), representing America’s largest manufacturing companies, sent a letter to Congress making the case that federal agencies (FERC and NERC) should have the responsibility to secure reliable and affordable access to natural gas, mainly through dramatic growth in pipeline infrastructure. The letter says FERC should be required to address any reliability concerns by expediting pipeline permits and promoting (not restricting) construction–potentially by asking for Presidential emergency powers!
Yesterday both Antero Midstream (the pipeline subsidiary of Antero Resources), and Crestwood Equity Partners announced a deal to sell Crestwood’s remaining Marcellus assets to Antero for $205 million. The assets include 72 miles of dry gas gathering pipelines and nine compressor stations with approximately 700 MMcf/d of compression capacity located in Doddridge County and Harrison County in West Virginia.
Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia (now wildly unpopular in his home state) continues to have a tough time sealing the deal on a permitting reform bill that will help the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) get done. Manchin traded his integrity away by voting to approve the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (a Big Green giveaway) in return for a vote on a bill to streamline the permitting of oil and gas projects like (and including) MVP. The Dems snookered Manchin into voting for the IRA with big promises, but now they don’t want to vote for his permitting bill, breaking those promises. Manchin needs help, and he’s turning to the oil and gas industry, hoping we will pressure Republican House and Senate members into helping him out. Don’t hold your breath, Joe.
Another update on the uphill battle Joe Manchin faces in getting his “side deal” legislation passed that will help Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) get done. Manchin agreed to vote for the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in return for a “permitting reform” bill, to be voted on in September, as the price for his vote. We told you it was a bad deal for many reasons–one of which is that Manchin may never get his vote. On Friday, 72 Democrat members of the House of Representatives signed a letter (copy below) to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer opposing the Manchin “side deal” legislation. Yeah, it didn’t but a few weeks for the Dems to welsh on their deal with Manchin. It appears that Manchin got rolled.
In February, three Democrat FERC commissioners voted to adopt onerous new regulations to use global warming considerations when approving (more like disapproving) pipeline projects (see 
One step forward and two steps back. That country tune went through our head as we read about the progress being made by Williams with its Regional Energy Access Expansion Pipeline project in Pennsylvania. The project, aimed at competing with the now-dead PennEast Pipeline project by flowing gas from northeastern Pennsylvania to the Trenton, NJ area, will get a virtual public hearing by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection on Wednesday, October 5.