Joe Manchin

Outrage As Senate Panel Advances Manchin-Barrasso Permitting Bill

August 2, 2024 Brett Wilkins and Jessica Corbett, DeSmog. Educate! Congress, Energy, Joe Manchin, Politics and Policy

A bipartisan energy permitting reform bill introduced last week in the U.S. Senate — and described by one campaigner as “the biggest giveaway in decades to the fossil fuel industry” — advanced Wednesday in a key vote that came over the objections of hundreds of green groups. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 in a 15-4 vote. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) voted against advancing the bill. The bill’s co-sponsors, Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), claim the proposal will “strengthen American energy security by accelerating the permitting process for critical energy and mineral projects of all types in the United States.”

Activists Disrupt ‘Joe Manchin’s’ FERC Meeting

January 21, 2023 Beyond Extreme Energy, Popular Resistance. Resist! climate crisis, FERC, Fossil Fuels, Joe Manchin

Yesterday BXE rallied in front of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) office in D.C. - greeting staff and commissioners as they came for the monthly commissioners meeting! We then supported a #FrontlinesToFERC press conference- a group of Gulf Coast organizers who spoke on the numerous frontline LNG fights coming before FERC. As the FERC meeting began- 3BXEactivists disrupted the meeting and were hauled out chanting. Four more BXE members that were not allowed into the meeting (due to past disruptions) managed to get into the meeting anyway- yelling "STOP MANCHIN'S FERC" and deploying a banner. A security guard knocked people over, but we kept on yelling as we were kicked out of the building!

Environmental Justice Advocates Successfully Block Manchin’s Side Deal

December 9, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Resist! Environment, Fossil Fuels, Joe Manchin, NDAA, Victory

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s so-called dirty side deal was dealt another blow when Democratic leadership declined to attach it to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The legislation, which would have fast-tracked permitting for energy projects and pushed through the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, was reportedly supported at first by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. However, support wavered after more than 750 frontline communities and environmental justice organizations wrote a letter to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Monday opposing the deal. “Manchin’s efforts to tie his dirty deal to any must-pass legislation he can get his hands on are undemocratic and potentially devastating for the planet,” Ariel Moger, political affairs director of Friends of the Earth — one of the letter signatories — said, as The Guardian reported.

‘People Power Has Won The Day’: Manchin Dirty Deal Defeated

September 29, 2022 Jessica Corbett, Commondreams. Resist! climate crisis, Congress, Fossil Fuels, Joe Manchin

Climate campaigners and people on the frontlines of the planetary emergency celebrated Tuesday after Sen. Joe Manchin requested that his fossil fuel-friendly permitting reforms be stripped out of a stopgap funding bill. "People power has won the day," said Protect Our Water Heritage Rights Coalition (POWHR) organizer Grace Tuttle. "Thank you to everyone who rallied together to stop this bill. We will keep fighting alongside you. Our letters, calls, rallies, and grassroots activism secured this victory." "We recognize that the fight is not over, and we stand with all frontline communities from the Gulf Coast to Alaska facing fossil-fueled injustices," Tuttle vowed. "Our movement to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline is bigger and stronger than ever. We will keep fighting to end the era of fossil fuels and for the future we deserve."

DC Mobilization Demands Congress Stop Manchin’s Dirty Deal

September 9, 2022 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. Resist! Environment, Joe Manchin, Pipelines, Washington D.C.

Hundreds of people descended on Washington, D.C. Thursday to lobby lawmakers and rally against a federal permit reform proposal—which would serve the fossil fuel industry that's driving the global climate emergency. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to pass permit changes in exchange for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voting for the Inflation Reduction Act—and Schumer made clear Wednesday that he intends to connect the reforms to a continuing resolution that must pass this month to avert a government shutdown. "A half-century of environmental law and public participation in the decisions impacting their communities hang in the balance because Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin made a dirty deal behind closed doors that would sacrifice frontline communities from the Bronx and Brooklyn, to Appalachia, and throughout Indian Country," said Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, director of environmental justice at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

We In Appalachia Are Done With Being A Sacrifice Zone

September 9, 2022 Crystal Mello, Equation Campaign. Resist! Appalachia, Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Manchin, Mountain Valley Pipeline

Appalachia won’t be thrown under the bus in a side deal to climate legislation. That’s why we’re going to the capital this week, for the “Appalachian Resistance Comes to DC“ rally, on September 8. Our message: we’re done with being a sacrifice zone. If you care about climate, you’ve got to care about us too. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s also the only way we can get better climate policies going forward. The wheelers and dealers who negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act need to work with those of us on the ground who lead this fight, rather than against us. The side deal proposed by Senator Joe Manchin includes the undermining of laws that protect us from the fossil fuel industry.

Groups Urge Congress To Reject Mountain Valley Pipeline

September 8, 2022 The Center for Biological Diversity. Resist! Congress, Joe Manchin, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Pipelines

Washington, DC — More than 80 conservation groups sent a letter today urging congressional leadership to reject Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposal to fast-track the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline as part of any “permitting reform” deal struck between Manchin and Democratic leaders. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is an ecological and climate disaster that threatens one of the largest remaining wild landscapes in the eastern United States,” the groups’ letter said. “This destructive pipeline was rejected by the federal courts in part because of the devastation it would cause to endangered species and sensitive ecosystems along its path.”

Manchin Side Deal Would Fast-Track Controversial Pipeline

September 3, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Educate! Inflation, Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Manchin, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Pipelines

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, is the biggest investment the U.S. government has made to date in fighting the climate crisis. Yet in order to persuade West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to support the landmark legislation, party leaders made a side deal with the pro-fossil-fuel Senator to pass additional legislation facilitating the permitting process for energy projects, including the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Mountain Valley Pipeline would carry fracked natural gas 303 miles through West Virginia and Virginia, according to the project website.

Activists Protest ‘Dirty Pipeline Deal’ Outside Schumer’s Office

August 19, 2022 Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams. Resist! Chuck Schumer, climate crisis, Democrats, Joe Manchin, Pipelines

Climate campaigners were arrested on Thursday after demonstrating outside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's Manhattan office, where they expressed opposition to the fossil fuel-friendly permitting reforms the New York Democrat agreed to bring to the floor to secure Sen. Joe Manchin's support for the Inflation Reduction Act. "Sen. Schumer is sacrificing frontline communities and our clean energy future, all to placate a coal baron," Food & Water Watch senior New York organizer Laura Shindell, one of 10 activists taken into custody, said in a statement. In addition to those who were arrested while conducting a peaceful sit-in at Schumer's office, dozens of others participated in Thursday's action, holding signs telling the majority leader to "Stop the Dirty Pipeline Deal" and "Off Fossil Fuels."

West Virginians Lead Blockade Of Coal Plant That Made Manchin Rich

April 10, 2022 Julia Conley, Common Dreams. Resist! Joe Manchin, Protests, West Virginia

Organizers of the "Coal Baron Blockade" protest which targeted right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's coal empire Saturday afternoon reported that state police almost immediately began arresting campaigners who assembled in Grant Town, West Virginia. Hundreds of campaigners participated in the blockade of Grant Town Power Plant, which receives coal waste from Enersystems, the company owned by the West Virginia senator's son. Manchin earns $500,000 per year from Enersystems—"making a very lucrative living off the backs of West Virginians," said Maria Gunnoe, an organizer of the action, this week.

Reverend William Barber Leads Moral Monday Action At US Capitol

December 15, 2021 John Zangas, DC Media Group. Resist! Joe Manchin, Poor People's Campaign, Voting Rights, Washington DC

Washington DC — Community organizers and faith leaders from 33 States converged on the U.S. Capitol to demand passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) and the Build Back Better Bill (H.R. 5376), now pending Senate approval. They chastised West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin for his role in delaying passage of the legislation which would provide protection for voting rights and financial relief for millions of impoverished Americans. Reverend William Barber called out Senator Joe Manchin by name for playing a “trick” on his constituents by delaying a vote in the Senate on the voting rights bill. Barber said that by delaying the vote until March it would give State legislatures time to gerrymander districts and allow passage of more restrictive voting laws.

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