Va., W.Va. Senators torn over Mountain Valley Pipeline push

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - As lawmakers worked down to the wire on Thursday to raise the country’s debt ceiling, the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline’s future was drawn in as well.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate worked to avoid a potentially-catastrophic economic collapse of defaulting on the country’s financial obligations -- by trying to raise the country’s debt ceiling. The highly important, and controversial bill -- included a provision to accelerate completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

If signed into law, the current debt ceiling bill would require regulators to issue all permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, and limit courts’ ability to halt or delay completion. On Thursday, opponents said such legislation would be detrimental to people living in the pipeline’s path -- while supporters said the current system is full of flaws.

“They’ve had a lot of oversight in the courts, it’s time to put it to rest, it’s time to build it. And I think once its built the benefits of this are going to be tremendous both on the energy security side and on the economic side for our state,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va..)

“The way a lot of my constituents see this is ‘hold on a second. A wealthy company that’s worth billions wants to take my land to make billions more and i get nothing out of it,’” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va..)

If completed, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is set to stretch more than 300-miles from Northwestern W.Va. to Southern Va..

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