After Thursday's meeting between Manchin and Schumer, environmentalists said Biden should shift his focus to what he can do unilaterally to slash carbon emissions and stave off climate catastrophe. Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC recently asked FERC for a four-year permit extension to complete the fracked gas project.Įarlier this week, The Washington Post reported that the Biden administration was exploring a potential arrangement under which federal officials would grant approval to the Mountain Valley pipeline and other fossil fuel projects in exchange for Manchin's support for limited renewable energy investments.Ĭlimate advocates were highly critical of such a trade-off, warning it would ultimately harm the planet. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has nevertheless granted permission for construction of the pipeline to move forward even as it awaits key government authorizations. Oil Change International and Bold Alliance estimated in a 2017 analysis that the completed pipeline would produce 89,526,651 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of 26 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles. The multibillion-dollar Mountain Valley project has been bogged down in regulatory and court battles for years as advocates and Indigenous groups warn it would endanger key waterways and forest land. West Virginians would be better served by pursuing clean energy projects than climate-polluting pipelines." ![]() "That includes curtailing new fossil fuel projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would not only create adverse local environmental impacts, including to the Appalachian Trail, but would lock in decades of additional climate pollution, including in the form of methane leakage. Whitehouse put it, 'it's now time for executive Beast Mode' on climate," said Nuccitelli. ![]() Manchin having prevented the current session of Congress from passing meaningful climate legislation, there are few remaining pathways for the Biden administration to come close to meeting America's 2030 Paris commitment." In a statement to Common Dreams, Nuccitelli said that "with the Supreme Court having limited EPA's ability to regulate climate pollutants and Sen. "Manchin has proven once again that he doesn't care about the planetary destruction that will cause immeasurable death." The West Virginia Democrat, an essential swing vote who has been dragging out and sabotaging negotiations for more than a year, claimed Friday that he wants to wait until after July inflation figures are released next month to decide whether to back legislation that includes new climate funding. The demand came after Manchin-who has received more campaign donations from the oil and gas industry than any other member of Congress this election cycle-reportedly informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during a closed-door meeting Thursday that he would not support any renewable energy spending or tax increases targeting the wealthy. ![]() ![]() \u201cThe Biden administration should immediately terminate the Mountain Valley Pipeline and curtail offshore drilling\ud83d\udd95\n\u201d - Dana Nuccitelli Nuccitelli) In an April statement, Manchin called the pipeline "a strategically important project" and pushed the administration to ensure its "full approval."ĭana Nuccitelli, research coordinator for the Citizens' Climate Lobby, tweeted Thursday that the Biden administration should instead "immediately terminate the Mountain Valley Pipeline and curtail offshore drilling," something Manchin also favors. Manchin, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry and a coal profiteer in his own right, has been a vocal proponent of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project that-if completed-would carry gas along a 300-mile course spanning from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. "West Virginians would be better served by pursuing clean energy projects than climate-polluting pipelines." Joe Manchin's latest climate obstruction by canceling a fracked gas pipeline in the right-wing Democrat's home state of West Virginia, a move that would prevent around 90 million metric tons of new greenhouse gas emissions from being spewed into the atmosphere each year. President Joe Biden on Friday faced calls to respond forcefully to Sen.
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