©2026 League of Conservation Voters
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) sponsored the Building American Energy Security Act, which was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023, which had been inserted into H.R. 7776, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). This amendment would allow a broad spectrum of energy-related projects to short circuit environmental review and public input, curtail judicial review, hand project developers veto power over comment period extensions, and require agencies to approve the unnecessary and harmful methane gas Mountain Valley Pipeline, among other damaging actions. Taken together, these changes would further prioritize the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our climate and the health of communities of color and low-wealth communities already disproportionately harmed by fossil fuel extraction, pipelines, processing, and burning. Research indicates that robust public engagement early in project development is more likely to improve projects’ designs, completion timelines, and benefits to communities than shortchanging environmental review and public input. On December 15, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on NDAA with the Manchin amendment by a vote of 47-47 (Senate roll call vote 394). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. The Senate subsequently passed the NDAA without Manchin’s legislation on December 15, and the president signed the NDAA into law on December 23.
©2026 League of Conservation Voters