Manchin vows to oppose all Biden’s EPA nominees over climate plan
The EPA is expected to unveil a sweeping proposal Thursday to slash greenhouse gas pollution from the nation’s thousands of power plants.
Sen. Joe Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said Wednesday he would oppose every Biden administration nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency in anticipation of a “radical” regulation the agency is expected to propose Thursday regulating emissions from fossil fuel power plants that are driving climate change.
The EPA is expected to unveil a sweeping proposal Thursday to slash greenhouse gas pollution from the nation’s thousands of power plants, requiring sharp pollution cuts from plants burning coal or natural gas, the country’s two biggest electricity sources. It is expected to hasten the closure of many aging coal plants, which are the predominant power source in Manchin’s home state of West Virginia.
“This Administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent 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,” 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.”
Manchin is up for reelection in 2024 but has not yet announced whether he’ll run again. He has been in a constant battle with the administration in recent weeks as he seeks to distance himself from its aggressive climate agenda.
He has criticized the administration’s execution of the Inflation Reduction Act, a climate and energy security law he helped write, while threatening to join Republicans in voting to repeal the law.
Manchin has also joined Republicans in supporting resolutions they’ve brought up for a vote disapproving of the administration’s energy and environmental policies, including last month’s vote when he was the only Democrat to join with Republicans to support overturning an EPA regulation on emissions from heavy-duty trucks.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan, testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday, emphasized that his agency’s pending rule would be designed to give “the power sector maximum flexibility” to use technologies such as carbon capture to meet emissions limits set by the regulation.
Manchin’s threat to oppose all EPA nominees could be fairly minimal. There are two pending EPA nominees before the Senate: Joe Goffman to run the air office and David Uhlmann to helm the enforcement office. Both advanced out of committee in April, Uhlmann on a voice vote and Goffman on a party-line vote.
Manchin had not previously taken a public position on Goffman, but had been expected to oppose him because of his work writing climate regulations during the Obama and Biden administrations.
Alex Guillén contributed to this report.