The Mountain Valley Pipeline can now resume construction as a result of a new ruling handed down by the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, in a response to an emergency petition from the Mountain Valley Pipeline project developers, the Supreme Court decided to vacate all stays against the construction issued by lower courts. The Supreme Court’s decision will override any lower court mandate for the construction project to remain on hold and instead will allow construction to continue until any legal challenges make their way through the court system.
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has been a strong proponent of the pipeline and the Supreme Court handed him a big victory for what Manchin called an “unlawful” stay against construction of the project.
As part of the debt ceiling deal negotiated in June between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden, they agreed to fast track the pipeline approvals and construction. The agreement between the two leaders instructed all federal agencies to approve outstanding permits for the pipeline so the project could be completed as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“The Supreme Court has spoken and this decision to let construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline move forward again is the correct one,” Manchin graded stated to the Daily Caller. “I am relieved that the highest court in the land has upheld the law Congress passed and the President signed.”
Surprisingly, the Biden administration agreed with the pipeline developers giving the opinion to the Supreme Court that they should also vacate the stays issued by lower courts despite environmentalists extreme pressure to stop the pipeline altogether.