Environmental Justice, Progressive, Climate Groups Fight Dirty Deal Inclusion in Defense Bill, Vow to Block Deal in Spending Bill

People vs. Fossil Fuels continues to rally communities across the country after generating thousands of calls to Congress to stop this round of the Dirty Deal

(Washington, D.C) – People vs. Fossil Fuels, a national coalition of over 1,200 frontline, climate justice, and progressive organizations, mobilized this week to stop Senator Joe Manchin’s latest attempt to pass his Dirty Deal by attaching it to the National Defense Authorizations Act, or NDAA. Manchin’s deadly permitting bill was not included in the NDAA draft text released Tuesday night. Despite this, Senator Manchin released the full text of his bill Building American Energy Security Act of 2022 this morning, continuing to urge his colleagues to ignore calls from frontline communities and amend the defense bill to include his dirty deal that weakens environmental protections and fast-tracks the Mountain Valley Pipeline. 

The coalition drove thousands of phone calls to Congress, with a particular focus on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, who held sway in whether the dirty deal will be attached to the must-pass defense bill. Groups also organized in-district actions, letters to the editor, and press calls and events with Members of Congress in Washington to oppose the plan. 

Despite the groups’ success in removing the deal from a continuing resolution in September and fighting to keep the language from being added on to the defense bill ll,they warn that Manchin will likely attempt  to attach this Dirty Deal to the government spending bill at the end of the year and will continue to fight until the permitting language is no longer pushed anywhere. 

In response, People vs. Fossil Fuels released the following statement: 

“This fight is not over. We stopped this dirty deal twice, we will make sure it’s stopped again, and we will keep fighting Manchin if he tries squeezing it into the government spending package at the end of the year. We need leaders in Congress to continue to show communities that they stand with them and reject this dirty deal once and for all. They must also join communities across the country calling on Biden to use his power as president to stop fossil fuel expansion and declare a climate emergency.”

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