Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) sponsored amendment 101 to H.R. 3746, to strike a provision mandating approval of permits for the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a fracked gas pipeline that threatens our climate, public health, environmental justice, and the region’s land, water, and ecosystems. At a time when we should be rapidly moving away from fossil fuels, this fossil gas pipeline would take us in the wrong direction, locking us into decades of 90,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, which is the equivalent of 26 coal-fired power plants or 19,000 passenger cars. The scofflaw company pushing the pipeline has already racked up millions of dollars in fines for nearly 400 water quality violations, posing a threat to drinking water and to public health and safety more broadly in the communities that lie along its path, which include low-wealth, Indigenous and communities of color already overburdened by pollution. In addition to the risks of the pipeline itself, the inclusion of this provision blindly mandating approval of a project and shielding it from judicial review in a completely unrelated must-pass bill sets a dangerous precedent, allowing Congress to circumvent and thereby undermine crucial environmental review and community engagement processes required by congressionally-passed statutes.  On June 1, 2023, the Senate rejected Senator Kaine’s amendment to H.R.3746 by a vote of 30-69 (Senate roll call vote 145). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. H.R. 3746 was passed by the Senate on June 1 and signed by the President on June 3.