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On Sunday morning, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin went on Fox News and said he won't vote for the Build Back Better Act, effectively killing the legislation's chance of becoming law.
Build Back Better is a roughly $2 trillion package of legislation that touches on everything from poverty to climate change. It was passed by the House last month. Notably, it includes provisions to address oil and gas production on public lands, including an increase in federal royalty rates, as well as a new fee on methane meant to curb the oil industry's indiscriminate release of the potent greenhouse gas. While Manchin opposed the methane fee, he signaled support for the increase in royalty rates just last week.
Democrats will no doubt try to salvage some of the climate provisions in Build Back Better by passing a scaled down package or separate legislation, but President Joe Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland don't have to wait on Congress to reform drilling on public lands.
“Secretary Haaland should immediately finalize rules to stop oil and gas companies from wasting methane on public lands. Interior must stop sweetheart deals for drillers and raise royalty rates on leases. The department should begin a full review of the climate impacts of oil and gas leasing to ensure these new rules cannot easily be erased by a future administration. And the Biden administration must do everything it can to ramp up renewable energy production on our public lands," said Center for Western Priorities' Executive Director Jennifer Rokala.
“I hope that Congress will one day pass laws to slow the climate crisis. Until then, it’s up to the administration to take every action possible, as quickly as possible," she added.
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We're charging ahead with a clean energy future because we have to, it's our responsibility to the future... I think the way that you walk that line is to be transparent and clear about what you're doing.”
