Tuesday, August 16, 2022 – Today, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act is America’s largest investment in combating climate change. However, in order to secure Senator Joe Manchin’s vote, Democratic leadership made concessions to Manchin that further entrench Louisiana as a sacrificial zone. 

In response, Anne Rolfes, the Executive Director of Louisiana Bucket Brigade, released the following statement:

“President Biden, Senator Manchin, Senator Chuck Schumer and Democratic Party leadership have handed Louisiana and the entire Gulf South to the fossil fuel industry,. While we’re glad to see America taking the climate crisis seriously, our future was used as a bargaining chip and that is a betrayal. This is the party that claims to take climate change seriously, yet their actions today are no different than our Republican congressional delegation that works hand-in-hand with the oil and gas industry.

In his campaign, Biden promised no more oil and gas leases on federal land and to prioritize combating environmental racism. Today, he broke both of those promises. Instead, he promised new oil and gas leases and eased permitting for industry construction of pipelines, liquid natural gas export terminals, and more. These new promises will further poison our air and water, further erode our coasts, and make us even more vulnerable to climate crises.

Ironically, this makes Biden more similar to FDR than he probably realizes. Just as FDR excluded people of color from the New Deal in exchange for Southern Democrats’ votes, Biden sacrificed the people of Louisiana to the oil and gas industry in exchange for Manchin’s vote. That will be Biden’s legacy in the Gulf South.

We’ve fought to protect our people from the oil and gas industry for generations. Democratic Party leadership may have made that fight harder, but we certainly won’t stop now.”

The concessions Democratic Party leadership made to Senator Manchin include opening up Gulf waters for drilling, funding carbon capture, easing permitting that will exacerbate the onslaught of petrochemical plant and gas export terminal construction in Louisiana and throughout the country. Other concessions, such as approving the Mountain Valley Pipeline and allowing oil and gas leasing in the Arctic, also sacrifice frontline communities in Appalachia and Alaska.

Right now, Louisianans are in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where Biden owns a beach home, searching for him and demanding an explanation as to why their state was used as a bargaining chip. The Louisiana Bucket Brigade hopes that Biden will take the time to answer their question.

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