The question of how much sway money has over politics has been a resounding debate for years. Now, it’s a debate that has once again been brought up due to recent events regarding American Senator Joe Manchin and a key climate change program. This may very well change the course of the United State’s policy toward climate change for years to come.
On Oct. 15, 2021, one of the most crucial parts of President Biden’s climate change agenda, regarding a program to rapidly replace the nation’s coal and gas-fired power plants with different renewable energy options, had been cut from the Democrat’s reconciliation bill. As the person responsible for the bill’s climate provisions, as well as one who has deep ties to different oil and gas corporations, Sen. Manchin reportedly has told the White House he strongly opposes the clean electricity program. This has barred Democrats from ever gaining his crucial vote which was needed to pass the bill.
The Clean Electricity Performance Program, or CEPP, was a $150 billion dollar program. It would have driven energy suppliers to switch from fossil fuels (whether they be natural gas or coal) to more renewable energy sources such as wind, solar or nuclear energy, and penalize those that do not. This type of clean energy, which already makes up roughly 40% of the industry, would have been a critical step to reducing carbon pollution significantly within the next decade within the United States.
Leah Stokes, an expert on climate policy who has been advising Senate Democrats around the policy, spoke to reporters about how this “is absolutely the most important climate policy in the package. We fundamentally need it to meet our climate goals. That’s just the reality. And now we can’t. So this is pretty sad.”
Sen. Manchin, raised in coal-rich West Virginia, has repeatedly been reported to have strong connections with different energy corporations. Most notably, lobbyists from the multinational oil and gas corporation Exxon Mobil bragged about having regular access to Sen. Joe Manchin according to leaked comments by a senior lobbyist. Overall, Manchin himself benefits from the coal industry, and this has certainly not done him any favors in the eyes of the public.
Sam Runyon, Manchin’s spokesperson, told the New York Times that Manchin opposed “using taxpayer dollars to pay private companies to do things they’re already doing.” However, no points were raised about how Biden scaled back his already dwindling budget involving environmental policies; This is compared to the $715 billion asked for the Pentagon by the White House.
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In the end, all of this has simply angered or depressed climate change advocates in their already bleak position. Climate activists have been lobbying for change around carbon emissions, desperate to stop the global temperature from rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius. A threshold that, if reached, would have disastrous consequences for the entire globe. At two degrees, it’s expected that $150 million additional people would die from air pollution, millions more would be driven out of their homes in South Asia and the Middle East due to the temperature rising so much that it would be impossible to simply walk outside without risking the chance at heatstroke. Not only that, but storms and floods would ravage cities like none seen before.
All of these problems are issues that will be inherited by the new generation if nothing is done by the government. The very same people that sit in their classrooms today will be the ones who have to deal with this catastrophic future that is at the precipice of the politics happening today.
It is up to the people of today to decide whether giving this power over to corporations, allowing money to influence politics in such a way, is worth allowing this same future to run its course.
Citations:
Davenport, Coral. “Key to Biden’s Climate Agenda Likely to Be Cut Because of Manchin Opposition.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/climate/biden-clean-energy-manchin.html.
Images, Alex Wong / Getty, et al. “Exxon-Tied Manchin Favors Climate Policies Pushed by the Oil and Gas Industry.” Truthout, Truthout, 20 Sept. 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/exxon-tied-manchin-favors-climate-policies-pushed-by-the-oil-and-gas-industry/.
Ioanes, Ellen. “Joe Manchin Won’t Support a Key Climate Program. Alternatives Won’t Be Enough.” Vox, Vox, 16 Oct. 2021, https://www.vox.com/2021/10/16/22729648/manchin-climate-change-reconciliation-clean-electricity-program.
September 14, 2021 Yvonne McIntyre Derek Murrow. “House Proposes Strong Clean Electricity Performance Program.” NRDC, 14 Sept. 2021, https://www.nrdc.org/experts/yvonne-mcintyre/house-proposes-strong-clean-electricity-performance-program.
Terkel, Amanda. “Exxon Lobbyist Brags about Regular Access to Joe Manchin.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 1 July 2021, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-manchin-exxonmobil-lobbying-environmental-groups_n_60dcc8e3e4b001b8d59bbbd8.