Sen. Joe Manchin III threatened Wednesday to oppose any of President Biden’s nominees for the Environmental Protection Agency over strict new rules from the administration to slash emissions from fossil fuel power plants.
The warning from the conservative West Virginia Democrat against the forthcoming regulations, which he called the latest effort “to kill the fossil industry,” marks the escalation of his feud with the White House.
“This administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hell-bent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence, no matter the cost to energy security and reliability,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement. “I fear that this administration’s commitment to their extreme ideology overshadows their responsibility to ensure long-lasting energy and economic security, and I will oppose all EPA nominees until they halt their government overreach.”
A White House official told The Washington Times that Mr. Biden “stands by his well-qualified nominees to do the important work of the EPA, which includes protecting our kids from dangerous air pollution and contaminated water.”
Republican aides were quick to suggest Mr. Manchin’s threat was politically motivated because it came the day after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, returned from a monthslong medical leave that lets Senate Democrats still have a majority without Mr. Manchin’s support.
“Interesting that Manchin waited until Feinstein returned to get tough on EPA noms,” tweeted Doug Andres, a spokesperson for Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. “Allows him to vote with Rs but the noms will likely still be confirmed.”
The EPA was set to release new rules Thursday, which explains Mr. Manchin’s timing, an aide to the senator said.
The proposed EPA regulations would require natural gas- and coal-fired power plants to implement technology known as carbon capture and storage to retrieve carbon dioxide emissions and store them underground as part of a broader bid to slash U.S. carbon emissions in half by 2030. The power sector generates about 25% of climate-warming emissions.
Mr. Manchin argued the stringent rules overstep the administration’s authority and jeopardize America’s energy security because natural gas and coal plants could be forced to shutter or switch to renewables if they fail to reduce or capture nearly all their emissions by 2040. Mr. Manchin’s family has longtime financial ties to West Virginia’s coal industry.
“If the reports are true, the pending EPA proposal would impact nearly all fossil-fueled power plants in the United States, which generate about 60% of our electricity, without an adequate plan to replace the lost baseload generation,” he said. “This piles on top of a broader regulatory agenda being rolled out designed to kill the fossil industry by a thousand cuts.”
The pro-fossil fuel group Power the Future lauded Mr. Manchin’s position.
“There is no doubt the Biden administration is using every faceless bureaucrat at their disposal to push their extreme green agenda, and it needs to stop right now,” said Executive Director Daniel Turner. “We urge Senator Manchin to hold fast to this commitment and not to buy any more false promises of compromise from Joe Biden.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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