FOSSIL FUEL LOBBYISTS CONTINUE TO SEIZE ON RUSSIA’S WAR IN UKRAINE TO PUSH LONG-TERM INTERESTS – By Lee Fang (The Intercept) / April 25, 2022
The unfolding crisis is now a common — and effective — talking point for corporate interest groups seeking regulatory relief.
SINCE THE MOUNTAIN Valley pipeline was announced eight years ago, the proposal to transport fracked natural gas from West Virginia to export terminals in southern Virginia has faced regulatory hurdles and local opposition. The main concern is that the project runs through environmentally sensitive waterways and farmlands, putting them at risk of spills — while further promoting the development of fracking throughout West Virginia.
Now, after nearly a decade of lobbying, the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine appears to have turned the tide, with federal regulators supporting a construction route that could bring the pipeline into service as early as next year.
Filings show that the pipeline’s boosters were quick to capitalize on the Ukraine crisis to sway policymakers. In federal appellate courts last month, attorneys for the pipeline project argued that with the U.S. ban on imports of Russian natural gas, “domestic supplies will become all the more important to the nation’s energy needs.” Completing the pipeline, the attorneys wrote, “indisputably would provide a meaningful step toward building out U.S. oil and gas infrastructure, freeing up additional natural gas for domestic consumption and export to Europe.” Other pipeline supporters, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., heavily cited the war in Ukraine to press administration officials to swiftly approve the project as a matter of national security.
CONTINUE > https://theintercept.com/2022/04/25/ukraine-russia-war-fossil-fuel-lobby-pipelines/
