I hate even mentioning WV Senator Joe Manchin’s name. For years we fought him and his dirty deals, defeating his fossil fueled proposals time after time — until finally President Biden sold us out on a debt ceiling deal, and then on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and let Manchin have everything he wanted —from the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline, to total control over US LNG policy for 5+ years — in exchange for his permission for the Federal government to act, and be funded, normally.
But now our old enemy is back, and it’s still very bad. Manchin has introduced what we hope will be his final dirty deal, this time calling it “the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.” By any name this is just another attempt to give the fossil fuel industry everything it wants. And for Manchin to dictate the energy policy of the United states from his last few weeks as chair of the Senate Energy Committee (a position of power we’ve ben very clear he does not deserve, and should never have been given).
Manchin seems to have copied and pasted large parts of his bill from Trump’s fossil fueled fascist playbook — Project 2025, which we’ve told you about before. But Manchin isn’t waiting for the election or Trump, he’s trying to enact this fossil fuel agenda NOW, before the lame duck Congress adjourns.
Manchin’s final dirty deal fast-tracks permits for fossil fuel projects and undermines public input on critical energy decisions. The bill would supercharge climate change and shove pollution down the throats of already overburdened front-line and fence-line communities — especially those in the Gulf South on the frontlines of the liquefied natural gas buildout and other fossil fuel exports.
Climate groups of all shapes and sizes are opposed. But some Democrats in Congress have already been fooled, againn, by promises of clean energy power lines. Not to mention the fact that, as we said at the top, Manchin has already passed dirty deals in the past and convinces the President and Congressional Democrats to go along with it. And now, Manchin is trying to rush this final dirty deal through with a hearing scheduled for this Wednesday, July 31.
It’s up to us to stop him. Click here to get matched to your Senators, and tell them to reject Manchin’s final dirty deal. We’ll cc your message to the President and Vice President, and make sure all the letters are delivered to the Senate Energy & Natural Resources committee before the hearing next week.