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The New ‘Climate Bill’ Is… About What One Would Expect

It’s a step in the right direction-ish, but some are calling it a ‘climate suicide pact’

Mitchell Peterson
8 min readAug 10, 2022
Photo by Chris LeBoutillier on Unsplash

It’s a very modest step forward. Bottom line is, I’m going to support the bill because given the crisis of climate change, the environmental community says this is a step forward. It doesn’t go anywhere near as far as it should. It is a step forward. — Bernie Sanders

When big oil executives are celebrating a ‘climate bill,’ you know it’s not a bill that’s good for the planet. That’s most of the debate in a nutshell. There’s a ton of back and forth on the internet about is the bill good, decent, horrible, historic, or ensuring the extinction of the human species.

I’m not going to weigh in on every aspect of the debate or even the bill. But for me, it can be summed up by the fact that West Virginia coal baron Manchin and his big oil buddies are popping bottles.

That is the barometer I am choosing to use. And while the bill does have many important measures for the climate and the American people, it is also a massive giveaway to the fossil fuel industry and doesn’t go nearly far enough with its real provisions for a sustainable future and livable planet.

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Mitchell Peterson
Mitchell Peterson

Written by Mitchell Peterson

Freelance writer in his tenth year outside the US. Currently in rural Spain writing the Substack bestseller and soon-to-be book, 18 Uncles.

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