"I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line," Manchin said in a statement. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat-West Virginia, who has long championed the project, cheered its inclusion in the legislation, as did Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican-West Virginia. FERC would also play an important role in orders authorizing construction. It has been awaiting a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification from West Virginia (struck by the 4th Circuit) and a CWA Section 404 water crossing permit from the Army Corps. The project has been in the process of regaining previously invalidated permits. And any legal attacks on the validity of that section of the bill could be heard in the DC Circuit, rather than the 4th Circuit.Īccording to Gary Kruse, managing director of Arbo, the bill, if approved, would enable completion of the pipeline by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024. It states that no court shall have judicial review of those federal permits. The project, which would connect Appalachian Basin gas supplies to Mid-Atlantic markets, has faced setbacks in the US Court of Appeals Court of the 4th Circuit, which has repeatedly found fault with federal permits on endangered species, national forest crossings, and wetland and stream crossings, amid multiple challenges from environmental groups.Īdding to the troubles in the 4th Circuit, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on May 26 also said FERC needed to better explain why it did not perform a supplemental environmental review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline after sedimentation problems ensued before allowing construction to resume.īut the bill would rein in the role of the courts, likely freeing the pipeline from a recurring loop of litigation setbacks after permits are reissued. It directs a handful of federal agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to issue all permits needed for construction and initial operation. The bill, called the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, would declare that Congress finds timely completion of the Mountain Valley project is in the national interest, and state that Congress "hereby ratifies and approves" all federal authorizations and permits needed. Legislative text of the agreement between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was released late May 28, with a vote expected on the 99-page bill to lift the US debt ceiling in the US House of Representatives on May 31. The layoffs come only two months after the company unveiled a redesigned drone that could fly further than its predecessor and withstand light rain.Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Amazon began doing so in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, just a few weeks ago.Ī spokesperson declined to tell CNBC how many Prime Air workers Amazon has let go. After years of testing, the company finally gained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2020 to start delivering orders by drone. In 2013, Amazon founder CEO Jeff Bezos announced a plan to start delivering packages by drone within 30 minutes. Headcount reductions were seemingly expected given the many struggles that the drone delivery group has endured over the years. Around half of the employees at the test site were reportedly let go. Workers at multiple locations have been dismissed, it has been claimed, including at Amazon's Seattle headquarters and a drone testing facility in Oregon. Employees in the drone delivery department's design, maintenance, systems engineering, flight testing and flight operations teams are said to have been laid off. Prime Air employees learned about the cuts on Wednesday, according to CNBC. The latter's drone delivery program was just starting to gain traction after commencing deliveries in test markets and unveiling a new model, but the layoffs have reportedly had a significant impact on that team. The move has hit certain divisions hard, including Comixology and Prime Air. Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed plans to lay off around 18,000 workers.
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