'Manchin's desire to see the Mountain Valley Pipeline completed is based on his fossil fuel donors' interests.'
One claim OCI targets is the notion that the Mountain Valley Pipeline could actually serve as a tool to fight the climate crisis, namely by displacing polluting coal facilities. As Manchin put it in an April, full approval of the pipeline set to run through his home state would enable the U.S. to"domestically produce the natural gas we need today and support our energy and climate goals for decades to come.
"These emissions would come from pipeline operations, methane gas leakage, and end users burning the pipeline's gas," report notes."The United States has pledged to reduce GHG emissions at least 50% from 2005 levels by 2030. Manchin and MVP's owners try to resolve this contradiction by assuming the pipeline will help the Southeast replace coal-fired power with gas-fired power, ignoring the fact that cheap, clean renewable energy is increasingly displacing coal and gas.
OCI also rejects the narrative pushed by Manchin and other pipeline apologists that a completed and operational MVP would help free up gas for export to western European nations—which are currently attempting to wean themselves off Russian fossil fuels—and meet supposedly growing gas needs in the U.S.
The EIA says increasing renewable energy generation in the coming years will displace gas consumption in the power sector, busting the myth that gas is the primary way to displace coal from our power system.