Air Date: Week of July 29, 2022

Senator Joe Manchin in 2017 (Photo: Third Way Think Tank, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In a surprise reversal, moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has signaled support for a major climate package that would boost clean energy tax incentives and potentially help the U.S. reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 40 percent by 2030. Host Jenni Doering shares a brief overview of what the bill includes for clean energy, environmental justice and more.

Transcript

BASCOMB: From PRX and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Bobby Bascomb.

DOERING: And I’m Jenni Doering.

In an evenly divided Congress, Moderate Democrat Joe Manchin has been a critical hold out vote for climate legislation…until now. The West Virginia Senator has announced he will support a $369 billion dollar climate bill put forward by his party. That’s just weeks after saying he could not support it, citing concerns about inflation. The bill is part of a larger reconciliation bill that can pass through the Senate without any Republican votes of support. Senate Democrats hope the bill will pass in a matter of days and claim that it would help the U.S. reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 40 percent by 2030. It would do so by boosting tax incentives for wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen, and other clean energy industries. There are also incentives for Americans hoping to buy a clean electric car amid historic gas prices. And the bill offers over $60 billion for environmental justice programs. It does include some concessions to the fossil fuel industry, such as a mandate for new oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. Senator Manchin has received more money from the fossil fuel industry than any other member of the current Congress. It’s unclear why he had a sudden change of heart in supporting this bill, but on the West Virginia radio program Talkline, he referenced the war in Ukraine.

MANCHIN: Putin has weaponized energy. And we have to fight that with better energy, more energy, and much more cleaner producing energy. That bill invests into that, while we also invest in the new technologies of the future for the transition of future energies.

DOERING: We’ll have more details on Senator Manchin and the climate bill in the coming weeks.

Links

Read a 4-page summary of the energy security and climate change investments in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

NYTimes | "Surprise Deal Would Be Most Ambitious Climate Action Undertaken by U.S."

Inside Climate News | "Senate Democrats Produce a Far-Reaching Climate Bill, But the Price of Compromise with Joe Manchin is Years More Drilling for Oil and Gas"