Manchin’s Side Deal Puts Frontline Communities At Risk & Has No Place In Funding Bill

In response to the release of the draft permitting legislation that is currently attached to the stopgap government funding bill, which was proposed in a sidecar deal by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Evergreen Action Executive Director Jamal Raad released the following statement: 

“A dirty backroom deal to force through fossil fuel infrastructure has no place in a continuing resolution to fund the government. After Senator Manchin’s repeated calls for regular order and respecting the committee process, it’s ridiculous to demand his fellow Senators support a bill negotiated in secret—and hold the federal government hostage in the process. Fast-tracking the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would deal a colossal blow to frontline communities in Appalachia that have too often been subjected to pollution-related death and disease so that fossil-fuel industries can make a profit. Majority Leader Schumer should immediately decouple the permitting legislation from the continuing resolution.”