Mountain Valley Aspect of Debt Limit Law Called Unconstitutional

Environmental groups in two lawsuits challenging the continued construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline called the language in President Joe Biden’s recently-signed federal debt-limit law—which proved a path to completion for the project—unconstitutional.

Organizations including Appalachian Voices, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity on Monday asked the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to deny an Interior Department motion to dismiss the case, which referenced the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 Biden signed on June 3.

The provisions of the law, as it concerns the more than 300-mile gas pipeline project, are unconstitutional because they ...