CCAN says: “MVP’s other investors would be wise to come to the same conclusion”
Richmond, VA — On Tuesday, NextEra Energy, Inc. announced that it will drop all of its methane gas assets by 2025 and focus exclusively on renewable energy investments. NextEra is currently a major investor in the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, a proposed 303-mile fracked gas pipeline through Virginia and West Virginia that would contribute the equivalent of 26 coal plants’ worth of carbon emissions.
The news comes a year after NextEra took an $800 million impairment charge for its stake in the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia. These losses are not unique to NextEra. Equitrans Midstream, MVP’s largest investor, recorded a $329 million net loss in 2022 and a whopping $1.5 billion net loss in 2021, all attributable to impairment charges associated with MVP. NextEra has a 31% interest in the MVP project.
NextEra executives pointed to recently passed federal incentives for renewable energy through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act as motivation for this change in their investment portfolio. While they announced their intentions to sell existing pipelines, it is unclear what the impact may be for their investment in the incomplete and wildly over-budget MVP.
Victoria Higgins, Virginia Director for Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), stated:
“The fossil-fuel chickens have come home to roost for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Global, federal, and state level policy in our region all point to the same truth: the methane gas industry is not long for this world. MVP’s other investors would be wise to come to the same conclusion as NextEra and abandon their investment in a soon-to-be obsolete market for the good of their business as well as our people and planet.”
Chesapeake Climate Action Network has been involved in the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline since 2015 through organizing and legal action. With our partners, CCAN successfully defeated attempts to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Chickahominy Gas Plant and Pipeline in Virginia, as well as numerous other fossil fuel infrastructure projects.
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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For more than 20 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
