Joe Manchin is a Coal Baron. Joe Manchin has a Dirty Empire.
Through these operations Manchin receives hundreds of thousands of revenue every year.
[...] For decades, they have relied on mines and refuse piles cited for dozens of Mine Safety and Health Agency violations, multiple deaths, and wastewater discharging that has poisoned tributaries feeding into the Monongahela River, as hundreds of thousands of tons of carcinogenic coal ash are dumped across Marion County.
Joe Manchin killed Joe Biden’s clean energy proposal. There are many good things in the mega-omni-kitchen-sink Democratic bills, but if we screw up the climate crisis, little else matters in the long run. So the time to play nice with Joe Manchin is over.
Biden needs to call Manchin into the Oval Office and tell him that if he doesn’t vote for clean energy, Biden will pursue policies that will ruin Manchin and his family business. Biden could declare all rivers in West Virginia scenic and protect them from any wastewater discharge. Biden could declare coal a national resource to be protected and establish national monuments over Manchin’s coal mines. Biden could declare coal-related pollution a national health emergency and suspend operations pending an emergency EPA investigation. Biden could declare coal-mining injuries and deaths an emergency worker safety crisis and suspend mining operations pending a federal investigation. Biden could declare West Virginia coal refuse piles as EPA superfund sites and prohibit any more dumping. I (obviously) know little about what leverage the President could bring against this Senator, but I’m sure he could get his attention somehow.
Biden should threaten Manchin with all of these things and more, unless Manchin cooperates. Coal should be stopped for the sake of the climate, and even without federal action, coal is no longer economically competitive. But if Manchin wants to bargain, let him negotiate to save his family business for a few more years in return for voting for Biden’s clean energy bill.