The Lone Socialist, Bernie Sanders spoke out in the Senate against "Dirty Joe Manchin's deal for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project in return for his vote on the remains of Biden's "Build Back Better" policy agenda. Bernie told the Senate that Manchin worked in concert with the American Petroleum Institute, the industry lobby group, to draft a fast permitting process that would aid his pet project in West Virginia. The bill would restrict access to courts and place arbitrary time limits on public comment periods and environmental reviews. API's proposed legislation would also allow the designation of certain energy projects of "strategic national importance" allowing additional federal support and expedited environmental reviews that would weaken environmental protection laws such as the Clean Water Act.
The bill is a mish-mash of the industry's obsession with 'cutting red tape' implying that protecting the environment and citizen health is merely an expensive exercise in bureaucracy. Sanders told his colleagues that 59 Democratic Representatives have signed on in opposition to Manchin's legislation. It would increase carbon emissions equivalent to 37 coal plants every year! The United States leadership on battling climate change would be severely compromised if the bill were to pass, said Rep Raul Grijalva of Arizona. Tell Joe Biden he does not owe 'Dirty' Joe Manchin anything besides a signature pen from his signing of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.