Climate Leaders Arrested Outside Senate During Protest Against Manchin’s Dirty Deal
Several leaders of climate justice organizations on Thursday were arrested after peacefully protesting at a Senate building on Capitol Hill, demanding that Congress reject Sen. Joe Manchin’s so-called permitted reform bill, which would make it easier for fossil fuel companies to secure approval for fracking, pipeline, and other extraction projects.
“Opposition to this so-called ‘dirty deal’ is widespread and growing across the environmental community,” said Greenpeace, which helped organize the action.
The protest comes with just over a week to go until Congress must pass a continuing budget resolution to keep the government funded—a package with which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has agreed to pair the permitting bill, which progressives have denounced as a giveaway to fossil fuel companies.
The bill would make it easier for fossil fuel projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline to move forward despite scientists’ and energy experts’ warnings that the continued building and use of fossil fuel infrastructure will make it impossible to limit global heating to 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures and will make it more likely that the Earth faces the worst effects of the climate emergency.
The so-called Energy Independence and Security Act would accelerate the review process for proposed energy infrastructure, including fracking and oil drilling projects.
Ahead of the Capitol Hill protest, where demonstrators risked arrest, Greenpeace USA co-executive director Ebony Twilley Martin said Wednesday that Manchin and Schumer’s “dirty deal” will perpetuate the status of low-income, Black, and Brown communities across the U.S. as “sacrifice zones.”
“Joe Manchin is not thinking of the very people that helped elect him,” said Twilley Martin. “This is not permitting reform. This is permitting a giveaway that benefits those who continue to line their pockets at the expense of those affected by climate disasters.”
“Our country cannot afford any new oil, gas, or coal projects if we’re going to avoid climate catastrophe,” she added. “Sens. Manchin and Schumer’s Dirty Deal is sending a clear message that Big Oil is willing to sacrifice entire communities, especially Black and Brown communities, in the pursuit of profits.”
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
