Avoiding national default carries a high price in environmental injustice
National debt default and global recession were avoided last week with the passage of a deal raising the national debt ceiling and guaranteeing a federal budget through 2024. However, disarming the economic hostage-takers in Congress carries a heavy price in environmental injustice.
From an environmental standpoint, the worst single item in the debt deal package approved by Congress and signed into law by the President is language intended to guarantee the permitting and construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The MVP is a hotly controversial pipeline transporting fracked gas from West Virginia to south-central Virginia. A proposed extension of MVP (“Southgate”) would carry the gas south across the North Carolina state line. Up until now, courts in Virginia have repeatedly struck down regulatory approvals for the MVP as violations of federal and state laws intended to prevent unacceptable damage to forests, waters, wildlife, and the health of frontline communities along the path of the pipeline.
In a statement issued prior to the final votes on the debt deal bill, the NC League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV) took particular aim at the destructive impacts of the MVP and its proposed Southgate extension into North Carolina: “It locks in decades of climate pollution and increases public health risks from emissions. It infringes on drinking water rights, especially in indigenous, low-income, elderly, and Black communities, and has been denied permits twice by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). It will not support long-term, family sustaining jobs.”
NCLCV’s statement further assigned responsibility for the inclusion of the MVP and other negative aspects of the debt deal bill principally to “MAGA Republicans in the House.” “We recognize that President Biden has done the best job possible to lessen the negative impact and preserve the climate, clean energy, and environmental justice investments and protections we enacted over the past two years,” said Dan Crawford, NCLCV Director of Governmental Relations. “We applaud Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia for his amendment to exclude MVP from the debt default deal.” NCLCV called on members of the North Carolina delegation to support his amendment.
Despite substantial support for the Kaine amendment, it fell short of the votes needed to strip the MVP from the final bill (30-69). While Sen. Tillis ultimately voted to increase the debt limit–and Sen. Budd voted against the increase– both Tillis and Budd voted against the Kaine amendment.
The national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) invested resources nationwide in educating the public on the sweeping damages to water, air, clean energy, and public health which would have been imposed by the original House-passed version of the debt deal bill. LCV signaled that it will continue its efforts to hold House members who supported the original bill accountable in the 2024 elections.
