Joe Manchin: “I rise to speak in favor of the MVP. They call it the Mountain Valley Pipeline; I call it the most valuable pipeline we…”

“I rise to speak in favor of the MVP. They call it the Mountain Valley Pipeline; I call it the most valuable pipeline we have to offer energy to the people of America. It has been under tow for a long time. I brought some illustrations of what we are going through because my good friend from Virginia, the Senator from Virginia who just spoke--and we respectfully disagree on this--this is something we have worked on for an awful long time. First, I want to make sure everybody understands that you cannot get permission to move forward on a pipeline, transmission line, anything you want in this country, unless there is a market for it. You have to show that there is a person or a group or a market that this product-- whether it is electricity on transmission lines or gas in the pipelines or oil or whatever, there has to be a market. You can't go from here to there and try to build a market. So there has to be a need. There has to be a need. If there is going to be a need in the market, then it starts proceeding, and then it goes through the process. This was started over 8 years ago, going through that process. I don't think there is another permit that has ever been more scrutinized--or a request for a permit--than this Mountain Valley Pipeline. It is the Mountain Valley Pipeline. We will call it the MVP. FERC has approved the MVP three times--not one time, three times--basically, over 8 years of review.…”