Manchin, a centrist, has made millions from the coal industry but stated his reasoning for not supporting the bill was that the climate package would worsen current inflation.
Critics have called Manchin a “walking conflict of interest”, as well as a “modern-day villain” who is “willing to see the world burn as long as it benefits his near-term investment portfolio” for his decision to withdraw his support of the climate change legislation.
The Supreme Court of the United States' conservative majority also stunted Biden’s climate change proposals last week by ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the authority to regulate the amount of carbon emissions a power plant produces. The decision was deemed a setback for public health by Charlotte Roscoe, a research fellow at Harvard’s School of Public Health.
The ruling has set back Biden’s climate goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by the year 2050.
Despite the numerous setbacks—or perhaps rallied by them—Biden may be readying himself to announce a climate emergency, said Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. By doing so he may be able to push forward his climate bill which Manchin, who is often seen as an unpredictable swing vote between the two parties, shot down.
On Wednesday Biden also announced a $2.3 billion plan to build infrastructure able to withstand extreme weather and natural disasters caused by climate change. The ceaseless threat of Climate Change came to a head this week when more than 90 million people in the United States were under heat warnings and at least 2,000 people in Western Europe died due to extreme heatwaves sweeping the globe.
Biden already pledged to use his executive power to take action following Manchin’s take-down of his climate bill. If he chooses to declare a climate emergency he may be able to funnel federal investments towards renewable energy, while stopping fossil fuel leases and encouraging manufacturers to focus on renewable energy technologies such as batteries for electric cars.
Biden has yet to declare a climate emergency despite pressure from Democrats and environmentalists who would like to see him take such action. Though Kerry is confident the president will use “every tool available to him” to address climate change, including his presidential powers.
“There should be an alarm in the White House that reads, ‘In case of congressional inertia, declare a climate emergency,’” said Daniel Weiss, an environmental activist. “Our ferocious Western wildfires, record drought and unprecedented European heat wave are more than enough signals that we don’t have the luxury of pollution procrastination.”
Biden could also involve the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, says Dan Farber, who is a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. This would give him the power to impose sanctions on both individuals and countries if they attempted to traffic fossil fuels into the United States.
“It’s about time this president and his administration call this crisis what it is: an emergency,” said John Paul Mejia, a spokesperson for the the Sunrise Movement, a "youth movement working to stop the climate crisis", according to his website.
“Of course, there is worry that it’s all bark and no bite. But social movements and allies across the country won’t let this just be rhetoric,” added Mejia.
However, declaring a climate emergency is not an action in itself, and even then if Biden were to use his presidential powers as opposed to the legislative route, those decisions may be flimsy when legally challenged later down the road.
“It’s not a silver bullet, but it provides some additional buckshot,” said Michael Gerrard, a professor at Columbia Law School.