Big Blitz Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 How Manchin used politics to protect his family coal company As governor, Joe Manchin supported an unusual detail in a clean energy bill that was moving through the West Virginia Legislature in 2009. The provision classified waste coal as an alternative energy. The muddy mix of discarded coal and rocks is one of the most carbon-intensive fuels in America. And Manchin's family business stood to benefit financially when it was reclassified as something akin to solar, wind and hydropower. Selling the scrap coal has earned Manchin millions of dollars over three decades, and he has used his political positions to protect the fuel - and a single power plant in West Virginia that burns it - from laws and regulations that also threatened his family business. It continues today. Only now Manchin has enormous influence over federal climate policy. He is using his chair role of the energy committee - and role as maverick Democrat – to shape environmental policy across the states. His opposition in December to a sweeping $1.7 trillion social spending bill known as Build Back Better ruptured one of the most ambitious climate packages in U.S. history. Then last week Manchin offered what stands to be his final word on the bill: "It's dead," he said. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/08/manchin-family-coal-company-00003218 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 When's the hit piece on Sinema? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All_Pro_Bills Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 1 hour ago, Doc said: When's the hit piece on Sinema? The lefties that followed her into the restroom last year are alleging she didn't wash her hands properly. Which is a violation of bathroom etiquette not to mention COVID safety procedure. Her careless behavior is putting people in danger and demonstrates radicalized thinking. Not to mention her complete disregard for their agenda and their inability to coerce her to submit to their ideology. And if that fails... did you know she's a racist? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demongyz Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I bet he protected other families coal businesses too, and perhaps even protected the jobs of the workers for those mines. This probably protected the jobs in many of those towns which make up a lot of towns in West Virginia. A Senator looking out for the interest of his constituency indeed is a scandal, don't tell the rest of them to do that, people may not hate congress if they did. I hate it when the republic works as designed. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 In other news, Nancy's insider trading helped so many others... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComradeKayAdams Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 On 2/8/2022 at 12:11 PM, Big Blitz said: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/08/manchin-family-coal-company-00003218 OK, but I don’t see a single sentence in the article that is untruthful. The author calls out Senator Manchin for what he clearly is: a crony capitalist of the fossil fuel industry, legislating based on personal financial gain rather than what’s best for his constituents and the country and the planet. On 2/8/2022 at 2:57 PM, Doc said: When's the hit piece on Sinema? One isn’t necessary because Sinema’s political career is already effectively over. Her resistance to Build Back Better was too radical a departure from the political platform on which she ran in Arizona. As a result, her state approval numbers are now in the basement, though I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care. She knew what she was doing and will be leaving Washington on a very golden parachute. On 2/8/2022 at 5:55 PM, Demongyz said: I bet he protected other families coal businesses too, and perhaps even protected the jobs of the workers for those mines. This probably protected the jobs in many of those towns which make up a lot of towns in West Virginia. A Senator looking out for the interest of his constituency indeed is a scandal, don't tell the rest of them to do that, people may not hate congress if they did. I hate it when the republic works as designed. Did you read the article?? He’s NOT looking out for the interests of his constituents! The article described two major ways in which this is the case: higher state utility costs and lower state health/environmental standards. I’ll offer several more that weren’t mentioned: 1. Build Back Better Act: About 70% of all West Virginians and about 90% of registered Democrats from West Virginia have been in favor of the bill. The inflation fearmongering and deficit hawkery that Manchin has used to justify his contrarian position (on a $1.7 trillion bill spread out over 10 years and embedded within a currently $30 trillion national debt, mind you…) contradicts all mainstream macroeconomic rationality as well as Manchin’s own lengthy legislative voting record. 2. General neoliberalism: West Virginia actually has a very rich history of labor activism, but center-right poopheads like Manchin have repeatedly gone out of their way to undermine it. We can start with universal health care and continue on down the long line of Reaganomics nonsense that Manchin has been peddling in opposition to the interests of the working class. West Virginians don’t even care about the coal mining jobs, per se. They care about jobs that provide an acceptable standard of living and that allow them to remain living in their home state. 3. Climate change economic legislation: Manchin has had numerous opportunities throughout his career to advocate for statewide transition program provisions in climate change-related bills that would have allowed coal industry workers to move into new careers (like in renewable energies?). These types of transition programs should have begun 40-50 years ago in West Virginia, or as soon as everyone realized coal was a dying industry. Manchin has never advocated for them. Instead, he has been downplaying, misleading, and flat out lying about anthropogenic global warming. 4. Progressive power shift: For the most part, West Virginia is a socially conservative state, so the social policies of progressive Democrats tend to scare them. Manchin’s (and Sinema’s) uncooperative antics over the Biden administration’s BBB Act, however, have done more to augment and embolden the progressive wing within the Democratic Party than any other political action seen since the Great Recession aftermath. It’s not uncommon for West Virginians to prioritize social policies over economic ones, so I’m sure many of them aren’t too happy with this development. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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