U.S. Energy Secretary signals support for MVP; West Virginia's Capito to press for permitting reform

WASHINGTON (WV News) — The Biden administration has signaled its support of the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, as West Virginia’s senatorial delegation continues to push for an overhaul of the federal energy project permitting process.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission all but urging the body to aid the completion of the long-delayed natural gas transmission project.

“While the Department takes no position regarding the outstanding agency actions required under federal or state law related to the construction of the MVP project, nor on any pending litigation, we submit the view that the MVP project will enhance the Nation’s critical infrastructure for energy and national security,” Granholm wrote. “We appreciate the Commission’s prompt actions to fulfill its regulatory responsibilities regarding natural gas infrastructure under the Natural Gas Act, and the interagency coordination it provides as the lead federal agency for the project under FAST-41.”

Granholm’s letter takes a position on the need for the project’s completion that is similar to the positions of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. — who have often argued that the MVP project will help assure the nation’s energy independence and security.

“(The MVP) can also help unlock additional natural gas supplies and delivery, which, in turn can enhance regional and national energy security,” Granholm wrote.

Granholm’s comments are a welcome development for the embattled project, Capito said during a recent press conference.

“I thought the comments Secretary Granholm made on the MVP pipeline were very encouraging,” Capito said. “She didn’t full-out, fully endorse (it), because she probably can’t. There are certain decisions I would imagine flow from her department, but I would say this is a recognition by the Biden administration that safe pipeline construction is absolutely essential to the energy security of this country and that West Virginia plays a big role, and West Virginia companies play a big role here.”

While Granholm’s letter could help the MVP see completion, Capito said she’s still determined to help usher in permitting reform for all energy projects.

“We’re going to keep the foot on the pedal for the MVP as it moves through permitting reform,” she said.

Capito, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, recently led the Senate’s first-ever hearing focused solely on the need to reform and overhaul the federal permitting process for energy projects.

Regulatory impediments to projects like the MVP are slowing down more than just the transmission of natural gas products, she said.

“It’s manufacturing projects. It’s water projects. It’s broadband projects,” Capito said. “All of these projects have to be permitted before they’re allowed to be built.”

At the end of March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, which was supported by West Virginia Republican Reps. Carol Miller and Alex Mooney.

The legislation seeks to overhaul the permitting process for all energy projects requiring regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Although an early draft of the legislation included language specifically mandating completion of the MVP project, these provisions were taken out, according to Capito.

“MVP was not attached on the House bill, but I wouldn’t take that necessarily as any kind of lack of support,” she said. “I think they were probably trying to thread the needle there to get as many votes as they could,” she said.

The Senate EPW Committee will have another hearing focused on permitting “in about 10 days,” Capito said Thursday.

The MVP project is planned to span approximately 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, transporting natural gas from the Mountain State to markets in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions.

In West Virginia, the MVP’s route is planned to include Braxton, Doddridge, Fayette, Greenbrier, Harrison, Lewis, Monroe, Nicholas, Summers, Webster and Wetzel counties.

When the project was initially announced in 2014, developers said it was expected to cost around $3.5 billion and would be completed by the end of 2018.

The cost is now expected to be in excess of $6.5 billion, according to its developers.