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Federal Court Voids Mountain Valley Pipeline Stream Permit From DEP

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has voided the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s clean water certification for the project.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline has been dealt another setback in federal court.

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has voided the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s clean water certification for the project.

The builders of the 300-mile natural gas pipeline will have to start over. It needs the permission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cross streams and wetlands, and it cannot receive that without the DEP’s certification.

The project is behind schedule in part due to multiple legal setbacks.

It lacks authorization from the U.S. Forest Service to cross the Jefferson National Forest on the border between West Virginia and Virginia because of an earlier ruling from the Fourth Circuit.

The pipeline is a top priority for state leaders, including U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.

Last month, Republican U.S. Rep. Carol Miller introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to finish the pipeline.

Justice, U.S. Lawmakers Break Ground On Berkshire Hathaway Project

The project will be built on the site of the former Century Aluminum plant. Precision Castparts will build titanium parts for the aerospace industry and employ about 200 workers.

State leaders broke ground on Saturday for an economic development project in Jackson County.

Gov. Jim Justice, U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-WV, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, Rep. Carol Miller, R-WV, and other dignitaries came to Ravenswood to break ground on an aerospace manufacturing hub.

The project will be built on the site of the former Century Aluminum plant. Precision Castparts will build titanium parts for the aerospace industry and employ about 200 workers.

It will also be powered by a renewable energy microgrid built by Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Our Next Energy, or ONE, will build utility-scale lithium storage batteries and employ another 100 workers. That operation is scheduled to begin in 2025.

The total investment in the Ravenswood site is more than $500 million.

Last month, Justice signed a bill that will bring a Form Energy long-duration storage battery plant to the site of a former steel plant in Weirton.

Appalachians Share Economic Woes with Congress

The U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, the oldest committee of the U.S. Congress held its first field hearing at Allegheny Wood Products in Petersburg, West Virginia to give citizens the chance to voice their small business’ needs to the federal government.

Representatives from across the U.S. heard from West Virginia small business owners, workers, and families about how they have been affected by inflation, supply chain problems and high energy costs. The event was also referred to as the “State of the American Economy: Appalachia.”

West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller, a Republican member of the committee, said she was excited to have her colleagues with her in her home state.

“I am really excited for the opportunity today to be able to highlight some of the stories of hard-working West Virginians, and the unnecessary struggles that they face because of an overreaching federal government,” Miller said. “From unelected bureaucrats and uninformed lawmakers, which have caused untold damage to all of our communities in southern West Virginia in particular, the effects of bad policies have been devastating.”

Members from the community were called to testify about issues they’ve faced in each of their industries. Members were: Tom Plaugher, vice president of operations at Allegheny Wood Products; Ashley Bachman owner of Cheetah B’s Restaurant; Wylie McDade, co-owner of Devil’s Due Distillery; Jamie Ward, preparation plant manager at Consol Energy Inc.

The committee plans to travel across the nation to hold field hearings with community members over the next two years to hear firsthand from citizens about the challenges facing their families and small businesses, and how they think Congress can help.

“I really appreciate the effort this committee made, it’s quite unique. I don’t know that I’ve come to a field hearing before, so it’s really an honor to be with you,” said West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney. “I’m grateful that this hearing is in my district, and I hope today’s discussion focuses on issues in rural America that Washington often overlooks West Virginia, families are being forced to make tough, tough economic decisions.”

GOP Reps Miller, Mooney Soar To Reelection In W.Va.

Two sitting Republican U.S. representatives in West Virginia have easily overcome challengers to keep their seats in the deep red state’s shrinking congressional delegation.

Updated on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 at 9 a.m.

Two sitting Republican U.S. representatives in West Virginia have easily overcome challengers to keep their seats in the deep red state’s shrinking congressional delegation.

U.S. Reps. Alex Mooney and Carol Miller defeated lesser-known Democratic and Independent candidates on Tuesday in a state controlled by Republicans at every level of state government. West Virginia hasn’t elected a Democrat to the House since 2012, and was one of only two states where former President Donald Trump won every county in 2016 and in 2020.

Miller said Tuesday she looks forward to working to bring “more investment, opportunity, and prosperity” to West Virginia.

“God bless West Virginia and God bless the United States of America!” she said in a statement on Facebook.

Mooney released a statement on Twitter thanking voters for their confidence in him, saying “there is much work to be done to get our country back on track.”

“I look forward to working with the new Republican majorities in Congress to stop the partisan witch hunts and instead fight for constitutional freedoms,” Mooney wrote.

The congressman said top priorities of his next term will be securing the border and fighting inflation.

In a closely watched May primary race, Trump-endorsed Mooney beat veteran lawmaker Republican Rep. David McKinley to become the GOP nominee for the 2nd Congressional District. The incumbents were pitted against each other after population losses cost West Virginia a U.S. House seat. McKinley faced criticism for breaking with his party to support President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Miller, another Trump ally, easily breezed to the Republican nomination in West Virginia’s 1st District in May, defeating four little-known candidates. Miller has represented West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District — which was eliminated in redistricting — since 2018.

In Tuesday’s race, Mooney faced former Morgantown city councilor Democrat Barry Wendell. The two candidates are both Maryland transplants — but that’s where the similarities ended.

Wendell is an openly gay Jewish man who supports access to abortion and investing in clean energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

Mooney, who has represented West Virginia in Congress since 2015, is a member of the most conservative voting bloc in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is adamantly opposed to abortion and policies that would hamper West Virginia’s coal industry. He has said he believes marriage is between “a man and a woman.”

Miller faced challenges from Democrat Lacy Watson and Independent Belinda Fox-Spencer. Watson is a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech. Fox-Spencer, who filed to run after the primary, is a small business owner. She worked in health care for 20 years as a diagnostic medical sonographer, specializing in women’s health.

Follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Sen. Manchin Isolating After Positive COVID-19 Test

Sen. Joe Manchin has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, the West Virginia lawmaker tweeted Monday.

The 74-year-old Democrat said he’s fully vaccinated and boosted.

“I will isolate and follow CDC guidelines as I continue to work remotely to serve West Virginians,” he said.

This is the second West Virginian member of Congress to test positive for COVID-19 in recent days. Rep. Carol Miller, who represents the state’s 3rd congressional district, announced she had contracted the virus last week.

Manchin’s absence could impact voting in the Senate later this week. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are able to vote remotely by proxy, but members of the U.S. Senate are not.

Lawmakers are expected to take a final vote on a bill to boost semiconductor production in the United States this week. The bill making its way through the Senate is a top priority of the Biden administration.

The legislation would add about $79 billion to the deficit over 10 years, mostly as a result of new grants and tax breaks that would subsidize the cost that computer chip manufacturers incur when building or expanding chip plants in the United States.

W.Va. Holds First High School Robotics Competition

Many of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation were in Fairmont Monday morning to commemorate the state’s first high school robotics competition.

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, as well as Rep. Carol Miller were at Fairmont State University Monday morning to cheer on high school teams from all over the state at the first West Virginia Robotics Championship.

“I’m really excited about what we see today,” Capito said. “The teams, they’re from all over the state, but they’re also different ages, and they’re also mixed boys and girls together. Everybody can participate here and mentor one another.”

Teamwork – both between humans and between humans and robots – was a focus of the comments delivered by Morgantown-born astronaut Andrew Morgan.

“Today, you’re here as a team, and you’ll win or lose as a team,” Morgan said. “But teams are made of great team players. As astronauts, we want crewmates that are great at being team players.”

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy was also on hand and highlighted the importance of robotics for upcoming lunar missions.

“What you’re doing today is incredibly important, because we’re going to do science differently on the surface of the moon,” Melroy said. “We think that the future of science in space is going to be human robotic teaming, meaning that you will work together with robots.”

This is the first year robotics is recognized as a high school co-curricular activity under the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission.