Just how upset is West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin with the President’s proposed power plant rule and broader energy policy?
How about angry enough that on Wednesday, the Democratic Senator issued a statement in which he vowed to oppose all of Biden’s future EPA nominees.
“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,” stated Manchin.
“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,” he said.
“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 percent of our electricity, without an adequate plan to replace the lost baseload generation. This piles on top of a broader regulatory agenda being rolled out designed to kill the fossil industry by a thousand cuts,” added the Senator.
What it means politically for Democrats is this—any future EPA nominee will have to get the support of every Democrat in the chamber. If California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who just returned to Washington after a lengthy illness, would have to assure her presence in D.C.
