A new investigation has revealed that coal baron and chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and his wife have been hard at work funneling millions of dollars into preserving a small valley in West Virginia where the couple owns property – even as the senator has blocked climate initiatives over the years.
The InterceptFind these results an article published MondayJoe and Gayle have collectively directed more than $15,000,000 into the Canaan Valley of northeastern West Virginia. Gayle has also owned a home there. condoDavis, California since 2011.
The condo around whichJoe Manchin is fishing and is surrounded by nature preserves such Blackwater Falls State Park, Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and others. It is just one of many properties. owned by the coupleTogether, they are worth between $4.5 and $12.8 millions as of 2020.
The investigation revealed that Gayle and Joe Manchin used their political influence to funnel money into the region.
The senator secured $7 million in legislation from the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2018, which he is a member. a member, to rebuild the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge’s visitor center less than a mile away from his property. The U.S. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works to preserve the valley and waterways Joe Manchin fishes. Daniel Boguslaw writes that part of this visitor center is used by Fish and Wildlife Service. The Intercept.
Again, the senator funneled money into reserve this year, securing $8million to build a new valley water treatment plant through his position on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
Gayle Manchin is in the interim. last year got$25,000 for water analysis in the valley and, starting in May, got a $1.2 million grantShe was given to the region to help build trails in the area. She was nominated by Joe Biden last yearCo-chair the Appalachian Regional Commission which oversees millions in grants.
Joe Manchin has been a champion for the Canaan Valley but has also worked to destroy the environment in other parts of the state and country.
“For Manchin to go to a place where I find peace, to this protected space, a place that was protected in the spirit of preservation, and siphon off a little piece for himself — it’s disgusting,” Dave Scott, an organizer with West Virginia Rising, told The InterceptThe Canaan Valley.
“He’s turned the rest of a state we used to call ‘almost heaven’ into almost hell. He opened up the mountaintops, the old mine shafts; he opened up the underground strata for more leaching and more fracking,” Scott continued. “When he became governor, he even tried to change our slogan from ‘Wild and Wonderful’ to ‘Open for Business.’”
Recently, Manchin stated that he will not vote for the Democrats’ new reconciliation bill if it includes spending on the climate crisis, dooming what could be the party’s – and the planet’s – last best chance to pass climate legislation for years, if not decades.
While it was a devastating announcement, it’s perhaps not surprising; Joe Manchin has hinged his careerPersonal bank account for protecting and expanding fossil fuel use in West Virginia and beyond.
Besides watering down and killing last year’s Build Back Better Act, which at one point ContainedJoe Manchin, funding for climate proposals Also, it was just recently obstructed climate action by announcing his opposition to Biden’s Federal Reserve Board nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin. Raskin, a strong climate advocate, believes that the Fed should do more to reduce the economic risks posed by the climate crisis.
In response to the senator’s recent climate obstruction, lawmakers have called for him to be removedFrom his position as the chairperson of the influential Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. This committee is responsible for overseeing energy policy and public land.
