Key to Biden’s Climate Agenda Like to Be Cut Because of Manchin

Democratic presidents have tried to legislate on climate change since the Clinton administration, but they have failed. During a year of record and deadly droughts, forest fires, storms, and floods that scientists say are made worse by climate change, Democrats had hoped to finally get enough political support to pass a strong climate bill, even if scientific reports say the window is closing quickly to avoid the most devastating effects of a warming planet.

A key scientific report released in August concluded that countries must immediately move away from fossil fuel burning to avoid a future of severe drought, intense heat waves, water scarcity, devastating storms, rising sea levels and the collapse of ecosystems. According to scientists, in order to avert a catastrophe, nations must prevent the average global temperature from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. However, as countries continue to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the average global temperature has already risen by around 1.1 degrees Celsius.

While Ms. Pelosi swore in San Francisco to protect these climate regulations, at least four people in Washington who were close to negotiations called the clean electricity program “dead”.

Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota and lead author of the program, said that while it could win Mr Manchin’s vote on the draft budget, it could also cost it – and that of other environmental-focused Democrats.

“We need to have strong climate action in the budget for Build Back Better,” she said. “I am open to all approaches, but as I said, I will not support any budget agreement that does not get us to where we need to make progress on climate protection. There are 50 Democratic Senators and it will take each of our votes to pass this budget. “

Mr. Manchin, who has personal financial ties to the coal industry, originally intended to write the details of the program as chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Mr Manchin considered a clean electricity program that would reward utility companies for switching from coal to natural gas, which is less polluting but still emits carbon dioxide and can leak methane, another greenhouse gas. Mr. Manchin’s home state, West Virginia, is one of the largest producers of coal and gas in the country.

But in the past few days, Mr Manchin has indicated to the government that he is now completely against a clean energy program, said people familiar with the discussions.