Granholm’s Mountain Valley pipeline support creates firestorm

April 25, 2023

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s endorsement of the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline on Monday is putting environmentalists on high alert and stirring speculation about how the move will affect the project and congressional permitting negotiations.

“This has all the hallmarks of a backroom, Faustian deal with Joe Manchin,” Rep. Jared Huffman of California, a senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said Monday.

Widespread confusion — and anxiety — over what might be the motivation behind the letter Granholm sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in support of the project comes as congressional Republicans are eager to pressure Democrats into a deal on overhauling the energy permitting process as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling.

Any such agreement would likely need to pass muster with Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

He is also a swing vote in a closely divided Senate looking for any vehicle to approve the 303-mile Mountain Valley pipeline, which would carry natural through his state and has been held up by litigation.

Efforts in the previous Congress to pass his vision for permitting reform — and green-light completion of the pipeline — fell short amid opposition from progressives like Huffman and Republicans loath to give Manchin a political victory.

Manchin has also been delaying confirmation proceedings for the fifth commission seat at FERC, which has been vacant since January. The commission currently has two Republican and two Democratic members, which climate advocates say will hinder FERC’s ability to address grid bottlenecks stifling clean energy projects.

Huffman, who is leading a new Climate Action, Energy and Environment Task Force within the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wondered if Granholm’s letter was designed to compel Manchin to “release the hostage” of that fifth FERC commissioner.

“She sounds like a cheerleader for the fossil fuel industry; it’s really quite pathetic,” said Huffman to E&E News, who added that he was a “big fan” of Granholm. “But if this is what it takes for Manchin to release his hold on the FERC nominee so we can move forward with FERC reform and streamlining of electricity transmission projects, maybe that’s a necessary evil.”

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By:  E&E News Emma Dumain, Miranda Wilson
Source: E&E News