{"id":358333,"date":"2021-10-22T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=374251"},"modified":"2021-10-22T11:00:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T11:00:56","slug":"sen-joe-manchin-has-been-fighting-to-keep-billions-in-subsidies-for-fossil-fuel-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/10\/22\/sen-joe-manchin-has-been-fighting-to-keep-billions-in-subsidies-for-fossil-fuel-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Joe Manchin Has Been Fighting to Keep Billions in Subsidies for Fossil Fuel Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
A package of<\/u> legislation that represents a last chance to avoid severe climate crisis impacts was dramatically defanged late last week by conservative West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.<\/p>\n
Manchin, whose vote is key to any possibility of passing the already diminished $3.5 trillion reconciliation package into law, said he will not support its most meaningful climate provision. The Clean Electricity Performance Program would have sped up the transition to renewable energy from coal and natural gas by offering power utilities money to make the switch and charging them fines if they failed to do so.<\/p>\n
With the cornerstone of President Joe Biden\u2019s climate policy all but dead, Democrats are pushing to get Manchin on board for a suite of tax credits that would incentivize renewables. Manchin has signaled that he\u2019ll only sign on to wind and solar credits if Democrats chip away yet another key provision of Biden\u2019s agenda: the elimination of fossil fuel industry subsidies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe climate provisions of this package keep on shrinking.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nManchin’s proposed policies would effectively mean that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions won through incentivized renewable production could be canceled out by continued government-incentivized fossil fuel production. The fossil fuel industry subsidies on the table for elimination total $121 billion over the next decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe climate provisions of this package keep on shrinking,\u201d said Lukas Ross, a program manager focused on the federal budget at the environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth. \u201cIf subsidy repeal is no longer part of the discussion, a lot of progressives won\u2019t feel compelled to help carry this over the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Progressive Democrats have signaled that the subsidy eliminations remain key. \u201cRepealing these subsidies would finally establish a level playing field for renewable energy and go a long way towards tackling the climate crisis,\u201d Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told The Intercept. \u201cIt\u2019s a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nDespite\u00a0Manchin’s cost-conscious approach \u2014\u00a0he has demanded a reduced $1.5 trillion price tag for the bill \u2014 he has fought to preserve domestic fossil fuel industry subsidies. On the potential repeal of international oil and gas subsidies put into place during the Trump administration, Manchin has been silent.<\/p>\n
Manchin, who did not respond to a request for comment, has significant personal investments in the coal industry<\/a> and is also one of the biggest congressional recipients of fossil fuel industry donations, taking in $400,000 between July and October alone, mostly from the oil and gas sectors, according to E&E News.<\/a><\/p>\n