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To the dismay—though not perhaps surprise—of Democrats, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia told party leaders on Thursday he would not support new legislation to address the climate crisis. Senate negotiators had already jettisoned other legislative priorities, including paid family leave and free preschool, in hopes that the senator would eventually support some sort of climate package. Manchin, who made millions from his family coal business and accepted more money from the oil and gas industry than any other senator, strung party leadership along for months.
The White House has not yet commented on Manchin's announcement. But with legislation now off the table entirely, focus will quickly turn to the climate tools at President Biden's disposal—and he has many.
The most significant area where the Biden administration can quickly address climate change is the federal oil and gas leasing program. The program is governed by the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, which gives broad discretion to the Interior secretary over how and when national public lands are to be leased, and under what terms. The administration conducted a review of the onshore leasing system that found significant deficiencies, but any rulemaking to address the climate crisis will be a lengthy process. Similarly, the administration has started on a five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico but has not signaled whether the final plan will reflect the president's climate goals.
President Biden also has the authority to protect public land from development. By using the Antiquities Act to declare new national monuments, the president can take sensitive areas off the table for future drilling while ensuring public lands become part of the climate solution. For months, locally-led campaigns have been urging President Biden to protect Castner Range in Texas and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada as national monuments. The Center for Western Priorities' 2022 Winning the West Poll, released this week, found near-unanimous support for using the Antiquities Act to protect areas of Colorado that are included in the 400,000-acre CORE Act, a bill that has languished in Congress despite its popularity at home.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a climate hawk, expressed his disappointment last night, but also said that “If we can’t move forward as we had hoped, we need to salvage as much of this package as possible. The expression that failure is not an option is overused, but failure really is not an option here.”
It's clear this morning that the quickest way to salvage climate action sits squarely in the Oval Office.
Podcast: What it will take to win the west in 2022
The latest episode of our podcast, The Landscape, is a deep dive into our Winning the West Poll. Pollster Lindsay Vermeyen and CWP Executive Director Jennifer Rokala break down the numbers and what it means for candidates and President Biden heading into the fall. Listen now and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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As concerned citizens participate in the planning process for Grand Staircase this summer, our job will be to suggest, urge and remind the BLM to think big. The vision behind the next management plan must acknowledge America’s dark legacy of stolen land and advance the role of Indigenous cultures and their ecological knowledge in protecting the landscape and its artifacts. It must focus as well on climate resilience, including water capture in the face of aridification, and it must prioritize the survival of critical species and habitats.”
