Jonathan Ernst | Reuters President Joe Biden said Friday he would move forward with his own efforts to fight climate change and limit greenhouse gas emissions, a day after Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., told Democrats he would not support the climate provisions in the reconciliation bill. The comments by Manchin, a key centrist who holds the Senate’s 50-50 swing vote, could potentially squelch months of negotiations in Washington over the sweeping policy package and end Congress’ hopes of passing any major climate legislation. change this summer. “If the Senate does not act to address the climate crisis and strengthen the domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to respond right now,” Biden said in a statement. The president did not mention specific climate and clean energy policies, but said his actions would create jobs, improve energy security, strengthen domestic manufacturing and supply chains and protect the economy from future price increases. oil and natural gas. “I will not back down: The opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to back down,” the president said. Biden also urged lawmakers to act quickly to pass other parts of the package the senator supports. Manchin, who hails from the coal-rich state of West Virginia, has previously opposed some Democratic efforts to tackle climate change and limit emissions. Because of a 50-50 vote split in the Senate, Democrats could not advance the legislation without Manchin’s support for the domestic policy bill, which would have billions of dollars in incentives to cut emissions. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) delivers remarks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, November 1, 2021. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters During an interview with a West Virginia radio station, Manchin said he was still open to negotiations and would only support fast-track action on the drug pricing portion of the plan while keeping out other parts. He said he would not support any climate legislation until he had a better understanding of inflation data for July. “I want the climate. I want an energy policy,” Manchin said. “I wouldn’t put my staff in this — I wouldn’t put myself in this — if I wasn’t sincere in trying to find a way forward to do something that’s good for our country.” Biden must now depend on executive action to address climate change, which can be reversed by future administrations. Possible enforcement actions include limiting oil and gas drilling on federal lands and enforcing new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on power plant emissions. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., argued that the administration could impose carbon border tariffs on imports from countries with relatively worse greenhouse emissions, as well as require carbon sequestration from all major emitters and create stronger emissions controls in cars, light trucks and heavy commercial vehicles. “There is an opportunity right now. The Biden administration has a wide lane to move forward and begin taking strong action to combat the climate crisis,” Whitehouse tweeted on Friday. “With reconciliation ruled out as a path to ambitious climate action, Congress must turn to potentially bipartisan climate solutions like border carbon adjustment,” Whitehouse wrote in a second tweet. “Meanwhile, the executive branch has many tools at its disposal.” Some environmental groups have called on the president to declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, a move that would unlock authorities such as reinstating the ban on crude oil exports. Climate groups also urged Biden to direct the EPA to set national greenhouse gas limits and require the Interior Department to end new oil and gas leases and phase out oil and gas production on public land and waters. “It’s time for fast and furious executive action on climate,” Brett Hartle, director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Time and time again, we’ve seen Manchin’s bluff and his aversion to failure.” Ashley Thompson, Greenpeace’s senior climate spokeswoman, said the president “has no more excuses” after Manchin’s opposition to climate legislation and must use executive powers to prevent the worst effects of climate change. “President Biden may end lease sales of public land to fossil fuel companies, begin regulating [greenhouse gases] through its existing powers with the EPA and declare a climate emergency,” Thomson said. “We can’t keep waiting for a bunch of corporate executives in Congress to do nothing while people die.” Biden has pledged to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by mid-century. But without a reconciliation bill that includes climate provisions, the country is on track to miss the president’s goal, according to a recent analysis by independent research firm Rhodium Group.
