EDITORIAL: Another blown opportunity in Glasgow?

Oct. 30—The United Nations is holding its 26th annual Climate Change Conference over the weekend in Glasgow, Scotland, and after a summer of five-alarm weather catastrophes directly linked to global warming, one would think there might finally be enough political will to find solutions before it's too late.

Among the people, that will exists: the British Broadcasting Corp. released a poll this week that showed broad and growing support for serious action against global warming. In a massive sample size of some 30,000 respondents across 31 countries, 56% indicated they want their leaders to "set ambitious targets," up from 43% in 2015. The percentages of those preferring "gradual action" or none at all likewise declined.

The consequences couldn't be more dire. The Pacific island nations of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu are warning that their states could literally be wiped off the map by rising sea levels. Closer to home, cities such as New York and New Orleans face the prospect of losing vast stretches of valuable land. The humanitarian cost of this is already apparent, with spikes in global migration by people forced to flee from droughts, crop failures, flooding and other weather problems.

In President Joe Biden, the U.S. is sending a more honest and credible representative to Glasgow than disgraced predecessor Donald Trump, whose only interest in energy and environmental issues revolved entirely around how they could benefit him personally or politically. White House trustworthiness is still badly damaged by Trump's cynical, illogical withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, which set non-binding targets that Trump could have simply ignored but instead chose to loudly reject, an empty gesture that accomplished nothing aside from encouraging those who continue to lie about global warming.

But Biden, too, will have badly damaged his credibility on the issue by allowing his legislative agenda to be hijacked by a lone, deeply corrupt legislator in Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., whose personal wealth comes from his businesses dealing in coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels. Biden spent an inordinate length of time this summer wooing Manchin as one of two holdout senators refusing to back his "Build Back Better" agenda, which once contained serious provisions for mitigating global warming. Those measures were gutted this month by Manchin, who saw a massive spike in campaign donations from the fossil fuel lobby while negotiations were ongoing.

It's a classic, obvious case of quid-pro-quo corruption, and yet Biden has made little pushback. A political rally on Manchin's West Virginia home turf might have helped pressure the senator to do the right thing. Having failed to do that, Biden's Justice Department must investigate whether Manchin has violated federal bribery laws with such blatant, breathtaking corruption.

Manchin founded two coal companies in the 1980s that are operated by his son in what Manchin dubiously insists is a "blind trust." Manchin continues to profit from the companies, making some $4.5 million from them since being elected to the Senate in 2010. The Intercept reports that when Manchin was governor of West Virginia, the state investigated his chief of staff for an alleged sweetheart utility deal that benefited one of Manchin's top business clients. The U.S. attorney investigating at the time, Boothe Goodwin, was a nephew of one of Manchin's Cabinet members, and cousin of Manchin's former lawyer. Goodwin swept the case under the rug, and later led a super PAC to help Manchin's reelection campaign.

Biden was elected in part because voters were sick and tired of the blatant, unapologetic corruption of the Trump administration. But the consequences of the corruption Biden is allowing to continue are potentially far more serious than simply losing reelection.