West Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has played a pivotal role shaping President Biden’s proposed Build Back Better human infrastructure bill, objecting to both the $3.5 trillion price tag of the spending package and some of the programs it funded. Because the reconciliation bill that bypasses a Republican filibuster requires all 50 Democratic votes to pass, Manchin and every other Democratic senators’ votes are critical.
As congressional negotiators neared a final deal, Manchin publicly stated he would vote against any package that included the Clean Energy Performance Program, or CEPP, the flagship climate policy of Biden’s human infrastructure bill, that would require electric utility companies to rapidly replace fossil fuels with renewables such as solar and wind.
Manchin’s opposition derails Biden’s goal to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030. Now, congressional Democrats and environmental groups are searching for alternative ways to reduce carbon emissions before Biden leaves the UN Climate Change summit in Glasgow, Scotland that begins Oct. 31. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with John Noël, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA, who assesses the significance of the loss of the Clean Energy Performance Program, and how U.S. climate policy may impact decisions made by other nations at the UN Summit in Scotland.
JOHN NOEL: Well, we know that Joe Manchin and his wife make millions of dollars a year off of two coal companies that they own. They both receive dividends from a coal company that they’ve put in a blind trust that their son now operates. He still takes over $500,000 a year in dividends. We also know that Joe Manchin in this recent quarter took the most oil and gas money from oil and gas corporations in this campaign cycle in the quarter that was just reported.
So he is beholden not to the constituents of West Virginia, but to the polluting companies that dominate and his positions on the climate provisions are reflected in that power analysis. So he is against the clean energy performance plan. This is a set of incentives to help utilities rapidly transition from coal and natural gas over to solar and wind. This is a necessary component of their rapid transformation that will benefit all Americans. He’s against that because that will reduce the amount of coal and gas burden in this country.
He is against eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. This is a core Greenpeace campaign right now. We’re trying to rewrite the tax code. So oil and gas companies pay their fair share, and we’re able to raise money from them, close these loopholes to pay for the rest of the bill and other human infrastructure provisions. So he’s largely against some of the very major key components that would usher in the transformation that the world scientists say is necessary. There’s a global consensus it’s happening in other developed nations. Literally, everybody is onboard, except for oil and gas executives and their senator in West Virginia.
SCOTT HARRIS: If Sen. Joe Manchin succeeds in blocking the key provisions we’ve been talking about — the Clean Electricity Performance Program — as well as the cutoff of fossil fuel subsidies, what alternatives are possible to address climate change and reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions that cause global wars?
JOHN NOEL: So there’s been a few analyses that have come out very recently that say, “Okay, without this clean energy performance plan, which would make up the bulk of the emissions reductions of the Biden administration out to 2030, it is still technically possible to meet our global commitment and to mount a significant response to the climate crisis.” But it will be more difficult, potentially more expensive. And one of the main ways is clean energy tax credits, handing out tax credits to companies to produce renewable energies, batteries, electric vehicles, etc. There’s a whole host of technologies and strategies to reduce emissions in each sector of the economy.
But I got to tell you, everyone is scrambling because everyone was banking on this clean energy performance plan. And now it’s been taken pretty much taken out of the bill. It just shows how chaotic, unfortunate and how the U.S., with our almost schizophrenic politics is a global outlier when it comes to addressing the climate crisis.
SCOTT HARRIS: How important is the outcome of these congressional negotiations over Biden’s Build Back Better plan when it comes to measures to address climate change, given that countries around the world are watching U.S. policy on climate very closely in advance of the United Nations Climate Change summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which begins Oct. 31 and winds up on Nov. 12?
JOHN NOEL: It’s incredibly important. I mean, this is it. Ideally, they wanted this whole bill dialed, voted on and passed so he could walk into the Glasgow UN negotiations and say that America is back, we’re ready to show go of leadership. But what’s really going to happen at best is that they will have a framework agreed upon by Manchin that will not have these necessary climate provisions. And we’ll still subsidize domestic oil and gas production. People will know that Biden is not walking in there with an ironclad deal that dismantled the oil and gas industry power structure. And instead just relies on tax credit.
So reality, the politics in this country and fossil fuel industry control is now catching up and we’re seeing it unfold this week. So he’s going to have to be real with that. And I think the Germans, the Japanese, the other European countries may have to step up or at least challenge Joe Biden on this. So maybe he can be inspired to go harder back home, be inspired to take executive action, use more carrots on Joe Manchin and really lead us into this next couple of years for climate policy. Because right now we’re not seeing it.
For more information, visit Greenpeace USA at greenpeace.org/
