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On the Road to Glasgow: What Does Biden Have to Offer?
On Earth Day 2021, President Biden announced a commit-ment to reduce national greenhouse (GHG) emissions by 50–52 percent by 2030. Somewhere around October 22nd, 2021, a conservative coal-state Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), made the President of the United States into a liar. With less than a week to go before the start of the United Nations (UN) 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Manchin’s betrayal of his president and party could not have come at worst time.
With no votes to spare in the Senate, Manchin and his Senate colleague from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), have been the tail wagging the Democratic dog for months now. I’ve written before on the congressional calculus that has allowed Blue Dog Democrats to keep their thumbs on the legislative necks of the White House and party progressives.
Late in October, Manchin made it plain that he opposed the central pillar of President Biden’s climate plan. The Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP) would have paid utilities for shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, e.g., wind and solar, and fine those that did not.
Manchin, however, has not stopped with the CEPP. It’s now being reported that the Democrats are likely to ditch levying a proposed fee on oil and gas companies for their methane…
