Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she is “slightly encouraged” about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) getting back on track.
Capito said during a virtual press briefing Thursday that the U.S. Forest Service approval of a final environmental impact statement (FSEIS) to cross the Jefferson National Forest in Monroe County and Giles County, Va., is encouraging, but the court has shot those down before.
Capito was referring to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., which has blocked previous approvals by federal agencies.
That same court rejected the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of the Monroe County (Peters Mountain) crossing in January 2022, saying it did not meet federal standards. The new FSEIS approval filed last week is in response to that disapproval.
But the Fourth Circuit still has to OK the FSEIS, and that is where Capito remains cautious.
“I just think the court is always trying to find some way you can’t do it, and I hope they don’t find that … this time,” she said.
Some pipeline workers in Monroe County said they anticipate getting back to work soon, maybe by June or July, apparently after the court’s approval of the FSEIS.
“That is encouraging,” she said of the workers’ expectations. “I hope this is true. It is good to get people back to work … that is what it’s all about. This is a good economic driver for our state.”
Capito said that federal lead agencies are approving these “well-thought-out” environmental assessments, but “this administration is known to not be friendly to pipelines.”
“So why can’t you take the word of your own experts?” she said. “The pipeline is now 95 percent finished, and we need to finish it.”
The 303-mile, 42-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline will run from north-central West Virginia to Chatham, Va., and was initially slated to go online by the end of 2018.
However, protests and lawsuits have delayed progress and doubled the estimated cost of the project from an original $3.2 billion to now about $6.5 billion.
Another setback in West Virginia happened three weeks ago when the Fourth Circuit said the MVP crossing of waterways in West Virginia could not continue because the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had not taken into consideration if pipeline builders would meet all state stormwater and water quality requirements before issuing an approval.
The state “failed to provide a reasoned explanation as to why it believes MVP’s past permit violations will not continue to occur going forward,” the Fourth Circuit judges wrote.
The Fourth Circuit decision came after the same judges issued a permit for the MVP to cross streams and wetlands in Virginia based on the “due diligence” of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
On another issue Thursday, Capito addressed the controversy over the U.S. Supreme Court’s transparency issues and rules involving things like accepting gifts.
“The transparency in all of these issues is absolutely critical,” she said, adding that the Supreme Court sets its own rules and “the transparency issue has not been addressed properly.”
“I do think clarity in rules is critical,” she said.
Capito said she is confident the issues will be addressed.
“Yes, I do think these will be reviewed and I think Congress will try to get involved, but ultimately it is a separation of powers issue,” she said. “The judges and the chief judge (John Roberts), who I have great confidence in, are going to police themselves …”
Justice Clarence Thomas has been under fire for accepting expensive vacations from a prominent GOP donor that went unreported as well as a real estate sale involving the donor.
But Capito said she is staying out of judging what happened with Thomas and she is confident the Supreme Court will have much more clarity in the rules.