This will be quick, but I didn’t want to let the day end without posting about this article in the Roanoke Times, “Politicians react to FERC pipeline certifications.” Specifically, check this out by Sen. Tim Kaine (bolding added by me for emphasis):
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine used the phrase “very suspicious circumstances” Monday to describe how a federal agency announced it had approved two deeply controversial natural gas pipelines that will burrow through different regions of Virginia.
Kaine, a Democrat who was in Roanoke Monday, observed that notices from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the commission’s endorsement of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline were distributed after 7 p.m. Friday — timing clearly intended, he said, to inhibit news coverage going into the weekend.
“When somebody puts something out at 7 o’clock Friday night, they’re trying to hide it,” Kaine said. “That means they’re ashamed of their decision. Why would they be ashamed of it?”
The senator noted too that a vigorous and “stinging” dissent by Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur was significant, partly because such dissents rarely occur on the commission, he said. LaFleur, a Democrat who has been a commissioner since 2010, wrote, “I cannot conclude that either of these projects as proposed is in the public interest.” The two commissioners who voted to approve the pipelines are both Republicans appointed by President Donald Trump who recently joined the commission.
What’s particularly fascinating is the politicians Sen. Kaine seems to be in agreement with – Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke), Del Joseph Yost (R-Pearisburg), Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09), Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Cliff Hyra – and who Sen. Kaine seems to be in disagreement with – most prominently, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who earlier today appeared on the right-wing talk radio show of Donald Trump’s former Virginia co-chair to tout the pipeline approvals. Strange bedfellows, huh?
Finally, check out the following comments by Sen. Kaine about what those of us who (strongly) oppose the pipelines should do next.
“‘If you do not like this decision there are other agencies that still have to weigh in,” he said. “If you are active about this, please do not stop your activism. Please let these other agencies know what you think about it.'”
Sounds like good advice to me – thank you Sen. Kaine!
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