West Virginia
Debt limit deal would allow controversial Mountain Valley pipeline’s completion to be expedited
![Debt limit deal would allow controversial Mountain Valley pipeline’s completion to be expedited](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/05/30/9e09a773-58ab-43a7-8fd8-8881f117722b/thumbnail/1200x630/85a90d5eb26de48367f061a997b486f1/gettyimages-1428103419.jpg)
Congress may be on its way to avoiding debt default for the nation, but it could come at some environmental cost. Included in the text of the deal is a provision that would approve the remaining permits for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, thereby “expediting completion” of a project championed by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat.
The permitting provision – which takes up 25 of the bill’s 99 pages – identifies the pipeline by name and, noting it would carry natural gas more than 300 miles across the Virginias, it says that the pipeline is “required in the national interest” to “increase the reliability of natural gas supplies and the availability of natural gas at reasonable prices.”
But the pipeline, which is nearly complete, has undergone months of battling for its final permits and has a history of environmental concerns. And the fight to expedite its approval may not be over: the debt ceiling bill still must go through Congress, and several members are already unhappy with the inclusion of the pipeline. On Tuesday, six House Democrats filed an amendment to remove it from the bill.
In the Senate, Democrat of Virginia, Sen. Tim Kaine, also told CBS News that he is “extremely disappointed” by the provision.
“[It’s] bypassing the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through,” the spokesperson told CBS News. “This provision is completely unrelated to the debt ceiling matter.”
If Congress were to keep the provision, it would approve “all authorizations, permits, verifications, extensions, biological opinions, incidental take statements and any other approvals or orders issued” that are necessary for its construction and operation. It would also expedite the process, so that the pipeline’s permits could be approved within 21 days of the bill’s enactment.
What is the Mountain Valley Pipeline project?
According to the project’s website, the pipeline would run about 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, providing up to 2 million dekatherms a day of natural gas to the mid- and South Atlantic U.S. Construction on the pipeline began in 2018 and the company set a goal for it to be in service later this year.
Manchin reintroduced legislation earlier this month to ease permitting on energy projects, including the pipeline. He has tried to attach it to larger bills but has failed. Manchin argues that permitting reform — and this pipeline — are necessary for the nation’s energy security. In April, the pipeline lost a key permit after a federal appeals court said that the state hadn’t properly assessed the impact the pipeline would have on streams and wetlands. The court said there have been at least 46 water quality violations totaling more than half a million dollars in fines, the Associated Press reported.
A few weeks later, the U.S. Forest Service reissued another key permit that would allow the pipeline to go through about 3 1/2 miles of the Jefferson National Forest, despite past federal court rulings that developers had failed to adequately consider the environmental impact of doing so, the AP reported.
What is the controversy surrounding the Mountain Valley Pipeline?
The project claims that the pipeline and natural gas are “critical in providing reliable and affordable energy…as the efficient development of renewable energy sources accelerates,” while the bill says it would “reduce carbon emissions and facilitate the energy transition.”
But while natural gas does emit about half as much carbon dioxide as coal and 30% less than oil, according to the environmental nonprofit Center for Climate Energy Solutions, emissions from natural gas combustion has increased nearly 43% since 2005. In 2021, natural gas combustion for energy made up just over a third of the nation’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Environmental group Oil Change International released an analysis in 2017 that found the pipeline would emit more than 89 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year — an amount that’s “like adding 26 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles,” the group said.
The EIA also explains that natural gas production can create a significant amount of “contaminated water” that, if not properly handled, stored and treated, could pollute land and waterways.
There are also environmental concerns. Since 2018, the construction of the pipeline has been subject to more than 70 complaint investigations, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, most recently one that found there was significant erosion around a portion of the site. There have also been complaints of “muddy runoff,” an eroded waterbar channel and sediment entering waterways.
The inclusion of this provision in the deal has outraged environmentalists. The environmental group Climate Defiance has planned protest Tuesday outside the Brooklyn, New York, home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose second-largest contributor is NextEra Energy, one of the companies behind the joint venture of Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC. According to nonprofit campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets, Schumer received $302,600 from NextEra between 2017 and 2022.
Numerous environmental groups have been fighting against the pipeline’s approval over the past year and have issued statements about the provision.
“Singling out the Mountain Valley Pipeline for the approval in a vote about our nation’s credit limit is an egregious act,” Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director of environmental organization Appalachian Voices said in a statement. “By attempting to suspend the rules for a pipeline company that has repeatedly polluted communities’ water and flouted the conditions in its permits, the president and Congress would deny basic legal protections, procedural fairness and environmental justice to communities along the pipeline’s path.”
The Center for Biological Diversity called the bill a “colossal error,” and said it “limits the public’s ability to provide input on fossil fuel projects and other destructive developments that would harm the communities most burdened by pollution, while allowing corporate polluters to effectively rubberstamp the projects they’re proposing.”
Scott MacFarlane contributed to this report.
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West Virginia
West Virginia has one of the most dangerous parks in America
![West Virginia has one of the most dangerous parks in America](https://www.wtrf.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2024/04/NRG_Bridge_Sunrise-2-e1713468123729.jpg?w=1280)
WEST VIRGINIA (WTRF) – West Virginia boasts some magnificent parks, but one study warns visitors to be cautious when visiting this Mountain State marvel.
Personal injury litigators at Triumph Law, P.C. found that New River Gorge National Park & Preserve is the seventh most dangerous national park in the US.
New River Gorge has 5 deaths per 1 million visits.
Someone dies in a national park every 29 hours and most deaths are due to human factors rather than nature.
Top 10 Most Dangerous National Parks in America
#
National Park
State(s) / District / Territory
Average yearly visits
Total deaths (2013-2023)
Deaths per 1 million visits
1
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
AZ
215,881
60
25.27
2
Virgin Islands National Park
VI
299,756
33
10.01
3
Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River
NY, PA
252,268
17
6.13
4
Colorado National Monument
CO
441,356
29
5.97
5
Big Bend National Park
TX
431,241
28
5.90
6
Denali National Park & Preserve
AK
478,153
28
5.32
7
New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
WV
1,291,650
72
5.07
8
Redwood National and State Parks
CA
444,254
22
4.50
9
Death Valley National Park
CA, NV
1,219,446
51
3.80
10
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
CA
1,680,761
69
3.73
The study analyzed data from official fatality rates occurring in 153 popular national parks across America. it gathered data from the US National Park Service spanning 11 years, from the beginning of 2013 until the end of 2023.
West Virginia
West Virginia white couple alleged to have kept five adopted black children ‘locked in barn and used as slaves’
![West Virginia white couple alleged to have kept five adopted black children ‘locked in barn and used as slaves’](https://e3.365dm.com/24/06/1600x900/skynews-west-virginia-children_6590978.jpg?20240626031828)
A white couple from West Virginia have been accused of child neglect after allegedly forcing their adopted black children to work as ‘slaves’ and locking them in a barn.
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, pleaded not guilty at Kanawha County court on Tuesday to multiple charges, including human trafficking of a minor child, use of a minor child in forced labour, and child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death, according to local news outlet Metro News.
They also face allegations of human rights violations, over specifically targeting black children and forcing them to work because of their race, Metro News said.
Kanawha County circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers claimed that the children were “used basically as slaves”, citing what the indictment alleges.
The couple were first arrested in October 2023 after a wellness check led to the discovery of two of the couple’s five adopted children – aged six, nine, 11, 14 and 16 – living in inhumane conditions at a property in Sissonville.
In a previous statement made to the court, Whitefeather alleged that the barn where the 14 and 16-year-old were found in was a “teenage clubhouse” and denied that they were locked in.
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A nine-year-old girl was found inside the main house before Lantz came home with an 11-year-old boy and later, Whitefeather returned with a six-year-old.
Their bail has been set at $500,000 each, up from the previous amount of $200,000.
A trial date for the couple has been set for 9 September.
West Virginia
July hearing set for senator’s challenge of election results • West Virginia Watch
![July hearing set for senator’s challenge of election results • West Virginia Watch](https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Chandler-Swope.jpg)
A hearing has been scheduled in the case of a West Virginia senator challenging the results of the primary election, which he lost.
Sen. Chandler Swope, R-Mercer, filed a challenge to the election results in seven Mingo County precincts after losing the Republican primary to opponent Craig Hart.
The hearing will be at 9 a.m. July 18 at the Mingo County Courthouse.
In a notice filed earlier this month, Swope said he intends to challenge all votes cast in seven precincts in Mingo County. He requested to examine poll books across the county and reserves the right to amend the challenge to include additional precincts if irregularities are found.
According to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, Hart won 75% or 2,152 votes in Mingo County, while Swope captured 364 and former state Del. Eric Porterfield had 344.
In total, Hart won the election with 4,847 votes amounting to about 40%, while Swope had 4,384 votes, or approximately 37%. Porterfield had 2,633 or 22% of the votes.
Swope’s challenge includes four affidavits and an unsworn letter from Mingo County voters alleging irregularities with the primary election.
Based on the voter accounts and a Republican turnout of more than 70% percent in 12 of 28 precincts, compared with an approximately 47% Republican turnout for the county during the 2020 primary, Swope’s challenge says it appears many Mingo County voters were improperly given a choice about which primary they wanted to participate in, rather than being given the ballot of their respective party registration.
“These issues span multiple precincts, and in all likelihood, explain the unusually high number of Republican ballots submitted,” Swope’s challenge said.
In a joint motion, Swope and Hart requested a procedural hearing around July 1 to discuss procedural issues ahead of the July 18 hearing. They noted that both have filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the Mingo County Clerk’s Office.
Anthony Majestro, a Charleston attorney representing Hart, said the Mingo commission has agreed to allow them to review the poll books Friday to see if it’s mathematically possible for Swope to win the election in the challenged precincts.
Majestro said Swope’s challenge of specific precincts raises issues of disenfranchising people who correctly voted and possibly affecting other races. Swope’s argument about the high percentage of Republican votes cast in the primary is misleading, Majestro said, because it does not take into account independent voters, the number of which have increased in the past few years as the number of registered Democrats has declined.
According to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, in April 2020, Mingo County had 3,291 registered Republicans, 12,691 registered Democrats and 1,987 independent voters. As of April 2024, the county has 5113 registered Republicans, 7,202 Democrats and 2,295 independent voters.
“It shouldn’t surprise anybody that the independents are voting in the Republican primary rather than the Democratic primary, because there were no contested races in the Democratic primary …no local races contested,” Majestro said.
Swope was one of four West Virginia senators to lose seats during the primary election last month.
Mingo County Commission President Nathan Brown did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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