Manchin pulls away the football
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PRESENTED BY SPHERES IN FLIGHT
Joe “Lucy” Manchin is pulling away the climate football from the Charlie Brown Democrats. After President Joe Biden and his top advisors called for a full mobilization for clean energy independence, Manchin got to work. On Thursday, he called for a massive increase in oil and gas drilling. On Friday, he got rapturous applause from oil and gas executives as he trashed federal backing for electric vehicles. Today, he announced his opposition to climate hawk Sarah Bloom Raskin’s nomination to the Federal Reserve. It’ll be fun to see what he kills next.
I’m sincerely hoping that the advocates who are paid quite well to convince the U.S. Congress to enact strong climate policy now adjust their strategy away from “make a deal with Manchin,” because it ain’t gonna happen.
How the DC consensus kills the climate
THE CONSENSUS VIEW: Experienced climate journalists report that politicians support oil and gas development to bolster national security, and cite a non-partisan think tank which argues doing so would be good for climate action.
THE CONSENSUS VIEW, BEHIND THE CURTAIN: The authors (Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman) of a fossil-fuel-industry-sponsored newsletter (Axios Generate, presented by ExxonMobil, Chevron, et al.), present fossil-fuel industry talking points (“industry and Republicans say”) and then link to an essay at a fossil-fuel-funded think tank (Center for Strategic and International Studies, funded by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, et al.) written by a former fossil-fuel industry executive (Nikos Tsafos, the former Global Gas Practice Director at PFC Energy).
THIS WEEK ON THE HILL: The Democrats who aren’t interested in burning down the planet for profit keep heading into the office to do their work: on Wednesday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) will be holding a hearing on smarter wildfire management; Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) will markup legislation that mandates tribal consultation on projects like fossil-fuel pipelines, and on Thursday Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) is holding a hearing on climate resiliency and ocean wildlife legislation.
On Wednesday, the execrable Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) is holding a hearing on the Farm Bill’s climate provisions—no word yet on whether he’ll demand the Department of Agriculture build the Keystone XL pipeline.
Also on Wednesday: in the morning, members of Congress will promote their desired water projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and in the afternoon the Senate environment committee will review the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund.
Dharna Noor reports that Food & Water Watch has won a victory at the D.C. Circuit against FERC’s approval of a new natural gas pipeline and compressor station in Agawam, Massachusetts, because the agency “failed to account for the reasonably foreseeable indirect effects of the project—specifically, the greenhouse-gas emissions attributable to burning the gas to be carried in the pipeline.”
As readers may remember, our friend Manchin held a hearing blasting FERC for trying to fix its rules to avoid such losses. However, the plant is still getting built, as “FERC allows projects to proceed with construction even while litigation is pending.”
Kate Aronoff survived CERAWeek:
Even a possibility that Congress might pass climate policy or that Wall Street might start factoring climate risks into investments has sent the industry into hysterics, despite the fact that the only piece of climate legislation ostensibly on the table is essentially a big, temporary tax break for clean energy that steers well clear of incumbent fuels.
Meanwhile, the war-profiteering oil industry is “printing money with every barrel of oil.”
FUNNY, THAT: Koch Industries, the petrochemical conglomerate run by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, has numerous ongoing business operations in Russia, while Koch front groups like Stand Together are arguing the United States should end sanctions against Russia.
Rumors of This Coral’s Survival Were Greatly Exaggerated.
Steven Donziger has been in detention for 950 days.
What’s the difference between an “engrossed” bill and an “enrolled” one? From “PAYGO” to the “previous question,” the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center’s Catherine Rowland offers a short-and-sweet glossary of Capitol Hill jargon.
Happy Pi Day, everyone. It’s past time for me to get baking. Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. DMs are open—@climatebrad