Nuclear Empire Building

New bill would fund dangerous nuclear extravaganza

By Linda Pentz Gunter

Lately, we have been witnessing the danger of one man with far too much power. In the United States, that one man is Joe Manchin. The Senator from West Virginia, a Republican in Democrat’s clothing, was key to derailing the Biden administration’s Build Back Better legislation to address the climate crisis.

Manchin also lined up with Republicans to defeat a bill to enshrine the right to abortion in federal law and to block changes to the filibuster that would have allowed voting rights legislation to pass with a simple majority.

Now, he has come up with his own bill. Manchin’s grandiose International Nuclear Energy Act of 2022 is not only couched in a good deal of America first-style rhetoric, it is utterly detached from reality. Not that this will hinder it in any way. As Nuclear Intelligence Weekly recently concluded, “The bill has a relatively good chance of passing, in part because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has strengthened the push for energy independence”.