How One Senator Doomed the Democrats’ Climate Plan

He killed the plan to make power plants clean up their pollution. He destroyed an effort to help consumers pay for electric vehicles. He said he couldn't support government incentives for solar and wind companies or any of the other provisions that the rest of his party and his president say are necessary to ensure a livable planet.

The Democratic Party's plans to fight climate change were blown up by Senator Joe Manchin III, who took more campaign cash from the oil and gas industry than any other senator. As the Earth warms to dangerous levels, Mr. Manchin led his party through months of tortured negotiations that collapsed on Thursday night.

John Podesta is a former senior counselor to President Barack Obama and founder of the Center for American Progress.

After more than a year of working nights and weekends, Senate Democratic staff members sawthed and sobbed on Thursday night when the climate legislation they had worked so hard on was rejected.

Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and a long-time advocate for climate legislation, wrote on the social networking site, "Rage keeps me from crying."

At a time when scientists say the planet is nearly out of time to prevent average global temperatures from rising, Mr. Manchin's refusal to support the climate legislation effectively dooms the chances that Congress will pass any new law to tackle global warming.

That is the point at which the likelihood of a disaster increases greatly. The world has warmed by an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius.

A majority of Americans think the federal government is doing too little to reduce the effects of global warming, while 22 percent think it is doing the right amount, and 18 percent think it is doing too much, according to a survey conducted in May. A majority of the people in the survey said their community had been hit by extreme weather in the past year.

The United States will cut its emissions in half by the year 2030. Legislation is needed to meet Mr. Biden's climate goals.

According to a professor at the University of Santa Barbara, California, we are not going to meet our targets.

She didn't know how Mr. Manchin would look in his own eyes.

The need for more fossil fuels was Mr. Manchin's top concern at the beginning of this week. He wanted to know how to bring down the price of gas. You can't do it if you don't produce more. There is a problem if people don't want to produce more fossil. Reality is what that is. It's up to you to do it.

After data was released showing the nation's inflation rate at 9.1 percent, Mr. Manchin said in a statement, "No matter what spending ambitions some in congress may have, it is clear to anyone who visits a grocery store or a gas station."

Sam Runyon said that the senator has not walked away from the table. People involved in the talks thought they had reached the end of the line.

Several calls were not responded to by the White House.

Climate activists have described themselves as Charlie Brown to other people. When they were close to a deal, Mr. Manchin pulled his support at the last moment.

Maybe they should have known it was going to happen.

Mr. Manchin used to run a campaign ad in which he shot a bullet through Mr. Obama's climate plan. Mr. Biden knew that Mr. Manchin would be his biggest roadblock.

Senate Democrats approached Mr. Manchin at the beginning. As the White House began to write a $2 trillion spending and social policy bill that included health care and climate action, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, reached out to his West Virginia colleague.

The core of the climate legislation is about $300 billion in tax credits for producers and consumers of wind and solar power. It would be the largest expenditure by the US.

The tax package was shaped by Mr. Wyden in a way that Mr. Manchin would support. Mr. Manchin told Mr. Wyden to rewrite the package so that the tax credits could be used for nuclear energy and carbon capture and sequestration, a technology that has so far not proven commercially viable but that could theoretically allow power plants that

Mr. Wyden thought the changes would help get Mr. Manchin's support.

Other Democrats were crafting an even more ambitious climate provision for the bill, known as a clean energy standard, that would have paid electric utilities to replace coal- and gas-fired power plants and penalize those that didn't. The majority leader of the Senate, Mr. Manchin of West Virginia, secured control over the design of the program in a private memo.

Mr. Manchin said he couldn't vote for the spending package. There were no talks for a long time.

There is a chance of a future deal based on the tax credits for renewable energy and electric vehicles. Mr. Manchin wanted to cut spending and include fossil fuels. As the winter wore on, those demands grew louder and gas prices went up.

Paul Bledsoe is a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute. He said that it changed the dynamics.

Democrats thought they were close to a deal with Mr. Manchin. He wanted the electric vehicle tax credits to be eliminated. He wanted to change the clean energy tax package that he had created with Mr. Wyden.

Mr. Schumer agreed to many requests. According to climate activists who spoke with Mr. Schumer, the majority leader thought a deal could be reached.

The White House was willing to make concessions to Mr. Manchin.

The Interior Department offered 11 new offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska despite Mr. Biden's promise to end new drilling in federal waters. The White House was considering allowing a path for other fossil fuel projects in order to get Mr. Manchin's support.

According to several administration officials, the administration delayed federal rules to address methane, mercury and other pollutants in order to not anger Mr. Manchin. The regulatory process can take two years to complete.

The activists said they were suckered.

Mr. Manchin needs to pretend to be a fair arbiter, according to the executive director of the climate advocacy group. The man talked about his children. That's all bullshit. He cares about his company's profits and his political future.

Ms. Runyon did not reply.

Two weeks ago, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court limited the EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. The decision left intact the E.P.A.'s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, but blocked any attempt by the agency to write regulations so broad that they force the closing of coal-fired plants, which generate the most carbon dioxide.

Despite the court ruling and the obstruction in Congress, the administration still has a few ways to cut climate-warming pollution.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that leaks from oil and gas wells. Mercury, smog and soot are some of the types of pollution that it plans to limit. Electric utilities could be forced to clean up or shut down dirty facilities if they cracked down on pollutants.

Many of the same people who were successful in the power plant case in the Supreme Court are expected to challenge tougher tailpipe standards as well.

"We can't throw in the towel on the planet, so it's more important that Biden use all his authority to fiercely fight for the future."

Republican support is needed for legislation to extend tax breaks for wind and solar energy.

Dozens of states are moving ahead with their own climate plans despite the federal government's failure to act. By 2045, 100 percent of California's electricity must come from sources that don't produce carbon dioxide.

Twenty-one states have a version of that clean electricity standard, and several are moving legislation to make it even more stringent. California is expected to finalize a first-in-the-nation regulation that will require all new cars sold in the state to be electric or zero emission by the year 2035. The same rule is in the works in 17 other states.

She reported from Washington, D.C.