Biden Urged to Respond to Manchin by Killing West Virginia Fracked Gas Pipeline

President Joe Biden on Friday faced calls to respond forcefully to Sen. Joe Manchin’s latest climate obstruction by canceling a fracked gas pipeline in the right-wing Democrat’s home state of West Virginia, a move that would prevent around 90 million metric tons of new greenhouse gas emissions from being spewed into the atmosphere each year.

Manchin, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry and a coal profiteer in his own right, has been a vocal proponent of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project that—if completed—would carry gas along a 300-mile course spanning from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia.

In an April statement, Manchin called the pipeline “a strategically important project” and pushed the administration to ensure its “full approval.”

Dana Nuccitelli, research coordinator for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, tweeted Thursday that the Biden administration should instead “immediately terminate the Mountain Valley Pipeline and curtail offshore drilling,” something Manchin also favors.

The demand came after Manchin—who has received more campaign donations from the oil and gas industry than any other member of Congress this election cycle—reportedly informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during a closed-door meeting Thursday that he would not support any renewable energy spending or tax increases targeting the wealthy.

The West Virginia Democrat, an essential swing vote who has been dragging out and sabotaging negotiations for more than a year, claimed Friday that he wants to wait until after July inflation figures are released next month to decide whether to back legislation that includes new climate funding.

Oil Change International and Bold Alliance estimated in a 2017 analysis that the completed pipeline would produce 89,526,651 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of 26 coal plants or 19 million passenger vehicles.

Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that the Biden administration was exploring a potential arrangement under which federal officials would grant approval to the Mountain Valley pipeline and other fossil fuel projects in exchange for Manchin’s support for limited renewable energy investments.

Climate advocates were highly critical of such a trade-off, warning it would ultimately harm the planet. After Thursday’s meeting between Manchin and Schumer, environmentalists said Biden should shift his focus to what he can do unilaterally to slash carbon emissions and stave off climate catastrophe.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.