Senator Joe Manchin is the Coal Baron’s Favorite Coal Baron

“We’ve long known that Senator Joe Manchin is the coal baron’s favorite coal baron, but his efforts to lift up corporate polluters, block clean air, safe drinking water, and the clean energy industry go so much further,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous. “The Inflation Reduction Act – a bill he had a heavy hand in – is doing what it intended; making major investments in clean energy, creating jobs, and addressing inflation in America. Yet, Manchin spends his time trashing the bill and exploring avenues to repeal critical provisions that would save consumers money. He’s sought to undermine or weaken practically every attempt to safeguard clean air and water from coal, oil and gas pollution. And even after he tried to legislate the Mountain Valley Pipeline into existence, Manchin continues his efforts to further chip away at bedrock environmental laws. The fossil fuel industry and their never ending profit margin do not need yet another advocate. The American people, facing deadly heat, floods, and air quality do. Senator Manchin needs to prove he is more than just a coal baron.”

Over the past few years, Manchin has made a number of headlines for these deadly actions. Below is a snippet of them.

• The Guardian: ‘It’s a deal with the devil’: outrage in Appalachia over Manchin’s ‘vile’ pipeline plan; New York Times: Manchin’s Donors Include Pipeline Giants That Win in His Climate Deal
  • Senator Manchin engineered a plot to add damaging provisions to the must-pass debt ceiling deal that weakened NEPA and fast-tracked approval for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. He continues to push so-called "permitting reform" that would gut NEPA, the Clean Water Act, and other critical environmental protections.So far this year, the industry has donated $331,000 to Manchin – up from $20,000 in 2020, according to federal campaign finance disclosures tracked by Open Secrets.

• New York Times: Manchin, Playing to the Home Crowd, Is Fighting Electric Cars to the End
  • Senator Manchin fought electric vehicle incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act incessantly, including the union provision; he was ultimately responsible for shrinking the incentive by cutting the extra incentive for union-made cars.

• New York Times: How Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions
  • As a state senator, Manchin went into business with the local power plant, supplying them an inefficient low-grade coal (literally called gob) and arranged to profit off his constituents by getting money from the plant’s revenue/his constituents’ electricity bills. This business continues to this day, to the benefit of his financial interest.
• Sierra Magazine: West Virginians Are Disappointed in Joe Manchin; Coal Miners Weren’t Happy When Joe Manchin Derailed Build Back Better
  • His refusal to support Build Back Better, which was popular in West Virginia, turned his own constituents against him, as well as coal miners themselves.