Climate Justice Takes a Hit as Biden Approves the Mountain Valley Pipeline
On June 3, President Joe Biden signed a debt ceiling bill, but it was not without controversy. The bill gave the green light to the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile fracked-gas pipeline through Virginia and West Virginia, which will emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 26 coal plants as well as damage precious wilderness areas, such as the Jefferson National Forest.
The Politics Behind the Deal
The deal has been met with criticism because it directs agencies to issue permits on a specific energy project and exempts those permits from judicial review. This provision has been seen as a political favor for Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, who is heavily invested in and lobbied by the fossil fuel industry, in return for his vote on the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
A Blow to Democracy and Environmental Justice
The MVP deal sets a dangerous precedent for American democracy, allowing a vote on one bill to be directly traded for approval of a pet project in a given legislator’s district. Worse still, the deal attempts to supersede the judiciary, upsetting the delicate balance of powers between branches of government. This is not only a blow to democracy but also to the principles of environmental justice, which demand that communities impacted by energy projects have at least the ability to challenge the parameters of a project if they do not adequately protect the community.
The Fight Against MVP
Frontline communities have been fighting MVP for eight years. Activists have chained themselves to construction equipment and placed themselves in trees destined for destruction. They have also submitted hundreds of thousands of comments during various public comment periods. However, now, those long, cold nights in the trees and days in public hearing rooms may go to waste. Biden’s deal with Manchin spits in the face of the communities most impacted by the pipeline.
The Hypocrisy of Environmental Justice
For a president who frequently touts his commitment to environmental justice, this is hypocrisy at its finest. Biden could have been the president who pushed the United States — and the world — away from the brink of climate disaster. Instead, he is the president who built the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The president who locked in new fossil fuel infrastructure for decades to come at the most pivotal point in our climate journey. The president who stomped on more than half a century of bedrock environmental protections as a political favor.
Biden’s decision is not only a travesty for American democracy, but it is also a blow to environmental justice and the fight against climate change. It is time for political leaders to prioritize the health of our planet and communities over political favors and investments.
Victoria Higgins is the Virginia director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
Read More of this Story at www.pilotonline.com – 2023-06-24 22:05:51
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