Sen. Joe Manchin has opposed United States President Joe Biden's climate legislation, including the proposal's provision to force utilities to stop burning oil, coal, and gas and instead use solar, wind, and nuclear energy.
The legislation's proposal would prevent the use of energies that emit carbon dioxide, the element that is heating the planet. Manchin last week clearly expressed his opposition to the Biden administration's climate plan, forcing the latter to come up with one that the senator would accept.
Biden Administration's Climate Plan
Manchin said his continued opposition to the climate plan was because moving away from fossil fuels would harm West Virginia, his hometown, and a top coal and gas producer. Additionally, the senator's finances are tied to coal due to his founding of a family coal brokerage that earned him dividends worth $500,000 last year.
The situation comes as West Virginia residents previously suffered from the Buffalo Creek river swelling due to heavy storms. The floodwater spilled down and went inside basements of the homes of the people living in the area. The water also seeped into Farmington's aging pipes and overwhelmed the region's sewage treatment system, the New York Times reported.
Manchin is opposed to the Biden administration's Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), which has a proposed fund of $150 billion. The proposal will reward energy suppliers if they switch from fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, to cleaner power sources, such as solar, wind, and nuclear power. The legislation also aimed at good companies that did not comply with the requirements.
Many experts have said that the program was the country's best way to cut down on its carbon emissions significantly that would prevent the rise of global temperatures by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The threshold is considered to cause drastic consequences worldwide if it is reached and exceeded.
Manchin's opposition to the Biden administration's climate plan is the latest in a series of challenges and hurdles that block the Democrat's reconciliation package, known as the Build Back Better Act. Many moderate Democrats, including Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have publicly expressed their opposition to the $3.5 trillion spending of the bill, VOX reported.
Working For The World
On Sunday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned that the delay of the climate plan would lead to deaths. During an interview, the official said that acting on the climate threat was necessary to care for future generations.
Buttigieg added that fixing the planet's environment was good for the United States' economy as well as other nations. The official compared the climate plan to regular maintenance for machines, saying that if it were left alone for too long, it would cost lives and livelihoods.
The clean electricity program is aimed to reduce the country's electricity production emissions by 80% by 2030. However, Manchin argued that the program was not reliable enough and that it paid businesses to do something that the industry was slowly transitioning into anyway.
Look, the administration and the president are committed to bold climate action. Exactly what legislative form that takes is what's being negotiated right now," Buttigieg said when asked what he thought about the possibility of the program not being in the bill, The Hill reported.
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