Manchin Makes Opposition To Core Biden Climate Policy Clear; Oh Well, Nice Planet While It Lasted

[hatrack]

The most powerful part of President Biden’s climate agenda — a program to rapidly replace the nation’s coal- and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear energy — will likely be dropped from the massive budget bill pending in Congress, according to congressional staffers and lobbyists familiar with the matter. Senator Joe Manchin III, the Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia whose vote is crucial to passage of the bill, has told the White House that he strongly opposes the clean electricity program, according to three of those people. As a result, White House staffers are now rewriting the legislation without that climate provision, and are trying to cobble together a mix of other policies that could also cut emissions.

A White House spokesman, Vedant Patel, declined to comment on the specifics of the bill, saying, “the White House is laser focused on advancing the president’s climate goals and positioning the United States to meet its emission targets in a way that grows domestic industries and good jobs.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Manchin, Sam Runyon, wrote in an email, “Senator Manchin has clearly expressed his concerns about using taxpayer dollars to pay private companies to do things they’re already doing. He continues to support efforts to combat climate change while protecting American energy independence and ensuring our energy reliability.” West Virginia’s other senator, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, said she was “vehemently opposed” to the clean electricity program because it is “designed to ultimately eliminate coal and natural gas from our electricity mix, and would be absolutely devastating for my state.”

EDIT

“This is absolutely the most important climate policy in the package,” said Leah Stokes, an expert on climate policy, who has been advising Senate Democrats on how to craft the program. “We fundamentally need it to meet our climate goals. That’s just the reality. And now we can’t. So this is pretty sad.” The setback also means that President Biden will have a weakened hand when he travels to Glasgow in two weeks for a major United Nations climate change summit. He had hoped to point to the clean electricity program as evidence that the United States, which is historically the largest emitter of planet-warming pollution, was serious about changing course and leading a global effort to fight climate change. Mr. Biden has vowed that the United States will cut its emissions 50 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

EDIT

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/climate/biden-clean-energy-manchin.html

[hlthe2b]

1. the worst karma of all should come quickly to those who knowingly aid in destroying the planet--

not from sheer ignorance, not from a sincere misunderstanding, not from any justifiable reason whatsoever, but merely for SELF-BENEFIT and GREED.

I find Manchin and Sinema worthy of every bit the most devastating karmic justice that some of the worst Republicans/Trumpsters have earned and I no longer have qualms saying so. They are content to kill our future for their own ill-begotten gains. Don't tell me that they are the best WV and AZ could elect. At this point, they are hurting us every bit as much as the R's in Congress.

[walkingman]

3. I hear ya and I feel ya - living in Texas I have to live with the same thoughts everyday.

Like WV and AZ we have much better qualified people here in Texas but the GD retards simply hate anything that does not worship fossil fuel or redneck dually pickup trucks.

[Desert grandma]

2. They need to pass this reconciliation bill ASAP

We as Dems, need to demonstrate that we can govern, and there are plenty of other good things to brag about left in the bill. If need be, decrease the climate portion so we can pass these two infrastructure bills and add to the Senate in 2022. Then, with more Senators, we can pass a new Reconciliation Act which will include these measures. We need to hold the House and gain seats in the Senate in order to pass meaningful legislation quicker. It is very sad that two Senators can hold up such vital programs and defy their party and their President.

[paleotn]

4. It's not about their state. It's about their benefactors in the coal and fracking industries....

Does Capito and Manchin really believe that all West Virginians are capable of is fossil fuel extraction? And how many West Virginians actually draw a pay check from destroying their own state? It seems WV's senators are an extreme example of exactly what's wrong with US politics. They're both in a sort of gravitational lock with the deep pockets in WV and really could care less about their actual constituents. That system works pretty well for Manchin and Capito as long as their constituents are equally locked in the Fox News, fundigelical narrative of the world. It's the siren song of the three G's plus the big A (god, guns and gays + abortion) that keeps many if not most West Virginians from actually improving their lives and their state.

Normally, I'd figure so be it. West Virginians keep electing lunatics and have chosen their fate by doing so. But this time, their stupidity has global implications. Can't let that stand.

[Walleye]

5. First we couldn't fund it because it was not profitable, now we can't because it's too profitable

It’s not that he doesn’t want to pay private companies for energy infrastructure. He just wants to pay the private companies he gets money from. I guess that’s the point