Virginia, West Virginia oppose Biden’s social rules for highways

The neighboring states of Virginia and West Virginia are voicing opposition to a Biden administration rule that would mandate social and environmental regulations on infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey have joined a 24 state coalition challenging the plan, which would require social and environmental-based regulations for infrastructure projects — potentially stopping some infrastructure improvement projects that are deemed in violation of the administration’s rule.

“The Biden Administration is yet again circumventing Congress and, instead, entrusting unelected bureaucrats who lack any real sense of accountability with making decisions based on arbitrary standards that could seriously harm Virginians’ wellbeing,” Miyares said Wednesday.

The 24 states argue that the plan is part of Biden’s “radical climate agenda.” They say with the new mandate Americans will pay more for energy; face delays for infrastructure projects such as new housing, power plants, roads, and bridges; and/or cancel projects as a result of significant price hikes and delays.

Miyares said the proposed rule will impose expensive red-tape regulations for project developers and set an illegal double standard. Projects that align with Biden’s climate change agenda will be favored, while projects that use traditional energy sources will face stricter regulation, Miyares said.

In the letter to Biden, the 24 states call the environmental and social mandate a “dramatic example of federal and administrative overreach.”

A coalition of 17 governors also have written the Biden administration in opposition to the rule.

In addition to Virginia and West Virginia, the 24 state coalition also includes Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Both U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have spoken in opposition in recent months to the Biden administration’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rules, which would also would require companies both big and small to disclose information about their carbon emissions in the name of climate change.