The secret deal Manchin made with Schumer to make global warming worse is in trouble. My worry from the beginning was that for every progressive that voted against it, there would be a Republican who would cross the aisle and vote for it. After all, conservatives of both parties want to destroy the planet’s habitability for profit. But yesterday Manchin was moaning that the Republicans are screwing him over, running around with the mantle of victimhood and moaning that the GOP and the “extreme liberal; left” are using “revenge politics” against him.
The Washington Times reported that he said “I’ve never seen stranger bedfellows than Bernie Sanders and the extreme liberal left siding up with the Republican leadership,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “It’s like revenge politics, and basically revenge towards one person: me.”
The conservative West Virginia Democrat will unveil his legislation Wednesday to streamline energy projects. The legislation is expected to be attached to a stopgap funding bill to prevent a shutdown at the end of the month.
Mr. Manchin played the victim card as he heads into a political battle in which he is likely doomed, with neither Republicans nor fellow Democrats eager to give him a victory.
Manchin added: “I’m hearing that the Republican leadership is upset and they’re saying ‘we’re not going to give a victory to Joe Manchin’— Joe Manchin’s not looking for a victory,” he added. “We’ve got a good piece of legislation that’s extremely balanced and I think it’ll prove itself in time. The bottom line is, how much suffering and how much pain do you want to inflict on the American people for the time.”
The Republicans agree with Manchin on the substance, they’re just angry that he voted with the Democrats for Build Back Worse. Meanwhile, House Dems keep signing onto the letter to Pelosi and Hoyer asking them to keep the Manchin-Schumer bill “out of a continuing resolution or any other must-pass legislation this year.” This is Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva’s letter, which is driving corrupt conservative Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries— who thinks he’s already the boss— up the wall:
The permitting and public notice and comment provisions mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are among the only tools local communities have to force careful review of federal projects that may have serious, long-term, environmental, and public health consequences in those communities. Congress should continue to provide increased funding to assist federal agencies in completing the NEPA process but attempts to short-circuit or undermine the law in the name of “reform” must be opposed.
According to media reports, there is agreement to advance a series of anti-environmental and anti-environmental justice provisions through the House, at the behest of the American Petroleum Institute (API). These destructive provisions will allow polluting manufacturing and energy development projects to be rushed through before the families who are forced to live near them are even aware of the plans.
The proposed legislation would restrict public access to the courts to seek remedies against illegal project development; place arbitrary limits on the amount of time the public is given to comment on polluting projects; and curtail public input, environmental review, and government accountability. Additionally, the API plan would require a certain number of harmful fossil fuel projects to be designated as “projects of strategic national importance” to receive priority federal support, assistance, and expedited environmental review. These permitting “reforms” would weaken other important public health protections, including the Clean Water Act and more.
We remain deeply concerned that these serious and detrimental permitting provisions will significantly and disproportionately impact low-income communities, indigenous communities, and communities of color. The inclusion of these provisions in a continuing resolution, or any other must-pass legislation, would silence the voices of frontline and environmental justice communities by insulating them from scrutiny. Such a move would force Members to choose between protecting EJ communities from further pollution or funding the government.
We urge you to ensure that these provisions are kept out of a continuing resolution or any other must-pass legislation this year.
Manchin complained to the GOP that his bill is “something you’ve always wanted, and you get 80 percent of something, and you’re gonna let the perfect be the enemy of the good?”
Yesterday’s Hill Heat noted that “The future Manchin— with the assistance of ostensible climate hawks like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Brian Schatz, and President Joe Biden— is trying to unlock is dire. The United States alone has ‘enough fossil fuel reserves to single-handedly eat up the world’s remaining carbon budget before the planet is tipped into 1.5C,’ Oliver Milman reports. And global reserves would burn up the planet seven times over. These numbers come from the the new Global Registry of Fossil Fuels, launched today by the Carbon Tracker Initiative and Global Energy Monitor to be the most up-to-date assessment of global fossil-fuel reserves. Private equity oversees $216 billion worth of those fossil-fuel assets. A large coalition of environmental organizations is trying to bring some accountability to the quiet climate killers like Apollo Global Management, Blackstone Group, Brookfield Asset Management, Carlyle Group, KKR and Warbug Pincus.”
