Groups warn Pelosi, Schumer against allowing Manchin ‘deal’ in Pentagon spending bill

A broad coalition of environmentalists, public health campaigners, and progressive advocacy organizations on Monday issued a stern warning to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to include the so-called “dirty deal” on energy project permitting reforms in the mammoth military spending bill set to roll through Congress this month.

In a letter signed by more than 750 groups collectively representing millions of American constituents, the coalition calls on Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Pelosi (D-Calif.) to “unequivocally reject any effort to promote fossil fuels, advance unproven technologies, and weaken our core environmental laws” as it urges the two Democratic leaders to “stand with the communities who continue to bear the brunt of harm from fossil fuels” and act in ways “to prevent wholesale climate disaster.”

Kept out of a must-pass stopgap funding bill in September, the permitting reform package is the darling of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has tried to force the proposal through on several occasions as part of his agreement earlier this year to support the watered-down Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that passed both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden. Since its earlier defeats, Manchin now wants to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to force it through despite widespread opposition from expert critics, most members of his own Democratic Party, and outside campaigners.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported—citing two people who requested anonymity to “describe private conversations”—that Pelosi “has been in talks with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) about attaching a version of Manchin’s permitting bill” to the NDAA.

According to the Post, the text of the NDAA with the controversial permitting reforms included could come out as early as Monday, though the sources cited in the reporting indicated the situation remains fluid and the legislative plans were “subject to change” prior to any vote.

While Manchin’s push for permitting reforms faced defeat, its possible inclusion in the massive military spending bill, also seen as must-pass legislation, has outraged environmentalists and climate campaigners who argue that the nation must end investments in new fossil fuel infrastructure—including the Mountain Valley Pipeline which would run through West Virginia—in order to make way for the renewable energy transition necessary to stave off the worst impacts of rising global temperatures.

Campaigners like Jim Walsh, who serves as policy director at Food & Water Watch, vowed that opponents of the permitting deal would not rest in the fight to see the Manchin proposal—and others like it—defeated.

“Manchin’s proposal serves the interests of the dirty energy companies that have supported his political career,” Walsh said. “We will continue to oppose any schemes that incentivize fossil fuel expansion, undercut environmental and democratic protections, and sacrifice communities to the interests of corporate polluters.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.