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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRolling Stone: Manchin's Coal Corruption Is So Much Worse Than You Knew
One of the hardest things to grasp about the climate crisis is the connectedness of all things. One recent drizzly afternoon, I drove from Charleston, West Virginia, to the John Amos coal-fired power plant on the banks of the Kanawha River, near the town of Nitro. In the rain, the plant looked like one of the dark satanic mills that poet William Blake wrote about, with three enormous cooling towers that steamed like giant witches cauldrons. Across the river from the plant, mobile homes cluttered the bank of the Kanawha, streaked black with pollution that rained down on them 24/7.
I had visited the plant 20 years ago, on my first reporting trip to West Virginia. Back then, the plant seemed like an indomitable monument to the power of Big Coal. The facility, owned by Ohio-based utility giant American Electric Power, is capable of generating 3,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 2 million homes. It is also one of the biggest carbon polluters on the planet, emitting 13 million tons of CO2 each year, which is equal to the annual emissions of about 3 million cars.
When I look at John Amos today, I see fire and rising seas, disease and hunger. I see a rusting industrial contraption that takes CO2 captured by trees 300 million years ago and rereleases it into the sky, bringing the heat of the past to our future. Coal plants are one of the primary reasons why shopping malls were burning in Colorado this winter and reservoirs in the West are dry. They are why Antarctica is cracking up, threatening the future of virtually every low-lying city in the world, from Boston to Bangkok. They are why infectious-disease patterns are changing in Nepal and crops are failing in Kenya and roads are washing out in Appalachia.
At this point in human evolution, burning coal for power is one of the stupidest things humans do. Coal plants are engines of destruction, not progress. Thanks to the rapid evolution of clean energy, there are many better, cheaper, cleaner ways to power our lives. The only reason anyone still burns coal today is because of the enormous political power and inertia that the industry has acquired since the 19th century. In America, that power and inertia is embodied in the cruel and cartoonish character of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who, paradoxically, may have more control over the trajectory of the climate crisis than any other person on the planet right now. Kidus Girma, a 26-year-old Sunrise Movement activist who helped organize protests against Manchin this past fall, calls him the final villain.
More at the link.
The article is very long and in depth. And will make your stomach turn.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/joe-manchin-big-coal-west-virginia-1280922/
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Alliepoo
(2,209 posts)Hotler
(11,396 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,792 posts)have it wired to an offshore account in a far off nation...........
Irish_Dem
(46,579 posts)SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)To the core.
Response to SoonerPride (Original post)
KPN This message was self-deleted by its author.
KPN
(15,638 posts)Manchin. I actually just realized I despise him. He is holding us all hostage.
marieo1
(1,402 posts)Last edited Fri Mar 18, 2022, 12:48 PM - Edit history (1)
I agree totally................he shouldn't be in politics at all. He is only lining his own pockets - not caring at all about the rest of us and our health and the needs of our beautiful planet.
49jim
(559 posts)jobs on the planet. Many lives have been lost over many years of mining. My maternal great-grandfather was killed in a Scranton, PA mining blast in 1946. I discovered the newspaper article and other information while searching Ancestry.com.
ck4829
(35,039 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,605 posts)llashram
(6,265 posts)his voting record, especially when it comes to limiting coal usage, speaks for itself
BlueJac
(7,838 posts)jalan48
(13,842 posts)SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)And he is powerful because he is corrupt.
jalan48
(13,842 posts)Manchin To Serve As Chairman Of Senate Energy And Natural Resources Committee
Senator Manchin Will Set Agenda As The Lead Democrat On The Senate Committee On Energy And Natural Resources
February 4, 2021
Washington, DC Yesterday, the United States Senate passed the organizing resolution giving Senate Democrats control of committees and officially appointing Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Senator Manchin served as Ranking Member of the committee in the 116th Congress and has been a member of the committee since being elected to the Senate in 2010.
https://www.energy.senate.gov/2021/2/manchin-to-serve-as-chairman-of-senate-energy-and-natural-resources-committee
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)So the other Dems bow and scrape before him and give him plum committee chairs.
jalan48
(13,842 posts)climate change crisis we (future generations) are facing it's worse than sad, it's terrifying and immoral.
ShazzieB
(16,291 posts)Get a true majority, instead of this 50-50 situation, and his power goes away.
A super majority would be ideal, of course, but even 51-49 would take away a lot of his power. Right now, he's got the whole Democratic side of the Senste by the short hairs, and that needs to stop.
Phoenix61
(16,994 posts)the more I despise him. Evil, corrupt little worm.
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)Response to SoonerPride (Original post)
Post removed
SergeStorms
(19,187 posts)Ponietz
(2,939 posts)Just 7 days ago: https://www.sciencealert.com/lead-exposure-may-have-lowered-iq-of-half-of-americans-since-1940
Hope to see more study in academia re: lead poisoning and political affiliation. Judgment, impulse control, and executive functioning are all impaired by lead poisoning. That might account for the Q-nuts, Cawthorns, MTGs, ad nauseam, literally.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/08/childhood-lead-exposure-causes-lot-more-just-rise-violent-crime/|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coal_ash
Traildogbob
(8,684 posts)A Long painful end would be Karma. Can we confiscate his ill gotten yacht. One day there will be no mountain tops left to level. A fly over of West Virginia is heart breaking. You would think the people of WV would care more about there beautiful mountains. And breathable air.
Manchin is the Jill Stein and Tulsi that successfully infiltrated the party. And he is worth every penny paid to him by the Oligarchs. Almost as great a value as trump. All we can do is fight like hell to make him a Senema only two of 55+ votes. Make them A waste of cash they are paid.
Exactly what is the going rate to end democracy and the planet?
Heres a score card for ya:
Daylight Savings time 1
Planet saving time 0
Great work appointed politicians. Really earning that tax funded salary and perks.
czarjak
(11,254 posts)housecat
(3,121 posts)Escurumbele
(3,379 posts)He is a Democrat just by registration, and the saying that "if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it is a duck" fits him perfectly. Yes, I understand that he votes with Democrats once in a while, but for things of much less significance, and he does it because he has to keep the appearance that he is a Democrat, but the truth is different.
housecat
(3,121 posts)KS Toronado
(17,158 posts)to catch the harmful pollutants that comes out of the smoke stacks. Of course the electric companies don't
want the extra expense of improving their power plants. Always wondered why the EPA couldn't force them
to upgrade to something more environmentally friendly.
awesomerwb1
(4,265 posts)SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)yeah that old canard always makes me laugh.
"clean coal"
just like clean asbestos!
momta
(4,078 posts)We have to figure out a way to make him irrelevant.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)This is a pollster explaining results of a poll last fall.
... Bidens overall approval rating was 32 percent and disapproval rating was 65 percent. Its not a shock. He lost West Virginia badly, Blankenship said on Mondays MetroNews Talkline, citing the 2020 election results. ... In West Virginia, Blankenship said many feel strongly against the work the president is doing.
Almost half of voters, 53 percent, strongly disapprove, so the intensity with which they disapprove is the only real surprising thing, he said.
About 69 percent of West Virginia voters are applauding (hard-core Republican) Gov. Justice for his work since taking office in 2017. His disapproval rate was 28 percent.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has an overall job approval rating of 60 percent compared to Bidens 32 percent. Voters want to be listened to. When they feel like youre listening to them, they will reward that either at the polls or in numbers like this, Blankenship said. I think thats whats recognized here is that Senator Manchin is listening to the people of West Virginia.
The MBE Research poll also found 78 percent of voters said they support Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito (Hard-core Republican) working together in a bipartisan effort to pass the national infrastructure bill to address roads, bridges, power and other needs.
Nearly 74 percent of voters also said Manchin should oppose the presidents Build Back Better plan.
https://wvmetronews.com/2021/11/15/wv-voters-slam-biden-approve-of-justice-manchin-in-latest-mbe-research-poll/
WV is VERY red, but the good news here is that, though they've been slow to it, a majority are coming to accept the need for FUTURE energy change. Nothing that might even suggest disruption of jobs now, though. And nothing that might suggest any support for Biden/Democrats.
TheRickles
(2,047 posts)She was CEO of the company that owned it. And Manchin's wife even gets a mention at the end of the article for misusing her power as head of a national group representing state Boards of Education (she lobbied to require EpiPens in all schools, and coincidentally enough, that was the #1 product of her CEO daughter's company, whose price coincidentally skyrocketed at the same time). Uggghhh.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,374 posts)Here in America real easy to pick the winner of that contest.
RedSpartan
(1,693 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 17, 2022, 01:39 PM - Edit history (1)
He's on a first-name basis with many politicians on the Hill and has been for many years. He's told me about a few certainties in the Upper Chamber:
1. Almost everyone in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle, loves and respects Joe Biden. But politics is politics, and they act otherwise and say what they think they have to for the cameras.
2. Mitch McConnell is smart (although Schumer is smarter), but he is a soulless ghoul who is drunk on power for power's sake and the attention that comes with it. He has destroyed the Senate, maybe forever.
3. Rand Paul is probably the biggest asshole in the Senate, which is really saying something.
4. Marco Rubio is probably the second biggest idiot in the Senate, which is really saying something. Tommy Tuberville is the dumbest and it's not even close.
5. Yes, it's an open secret about Lindsay Graham.
6. Most Senate Republicans hate Trump, think he is a dangerous fool and bad for the GOP and the country, but they are terrified of his power so they go along with him and will until they don't have to anymore.
7. Joe Manchin is a corrupt slave to Big Coal, and he not a good person--he is a greedy, self-obsessed jerk (not unusual for a politician, of course). But some of the things that he has done behind the scenes to support Democratic initiatives would surprise you (he was a leader in saving Obamacare in 2016-17, even rallying a despondent Chuck Schumer) and he is a reliable vote for all Dem nominated judges.
8. Jeff Sessions was, and is, openly racist. Openly. Like, it even made his GOP colleagues uncomfortable to be around him.
FakeNoose
(32,599 posts)They're both equally hated by Repukes and Dems alike.
Everything else here is true, and disgusting to a large extent. Senate Repukes have ruined this country.
RedSpartan
(1,693 posts)Ted Cruz is something a bit different: a jackass. Fake, spineless, and compeletely devoid of character to the point that it even repulses professional politicians. No one likes him. NO ONE. Not a single person. People instinctually recoil from him.
momta
(4,078 posts)"I probably like Ted Cruz more than anyone else in the Senate, and I HATE Ted Cruz."
RedSpartan
(1,693 posts)An all-time classic.
Response to RedSpartan (Reply #48)
Haggis 4 Breakfast This message was self-deleted by its author.
ShazzieB
(16,291 posts)Thanks for sharing this info. Some of it confirms long held suspicions of mine (especially 2 and 6), none of it is the least bit hard to believe, and all of it is useful.
This deserves an o.p., in my opinion, so more people will have a chance to see it.
momta
(4,078 posts)He has also destroyed the Supreme Court for at least a few generations, unless the Dems can grow a backbone and DO SOMETHING about it.
AllaN01Bear
(18,016 posts)AllyCat
(16,152 posts)Obstructing irrelevant. Him and Sinema. I have not appreciated their blockade of basic human, American ideals.
Botany
(70,449 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,397 posts)cbabe
(3,513 posts)cayugafalls
(5,639 posts)Add 4 or more dem senators and watch Manchin squirm.
At least that is my dream...
Caliman73
(11,726 posts)Add 4 more Democratic Senators, strip Manchin of his committee chairs, and then he can switch to Republican where he will be just another face in the crowd.
Escurumbele
(3,379 posts)that he claims to be a Democrat, but do it in a way that makes him think twice to voting against programs Democrats are trying to pass that do help West Virginians.
Isn't there a Democratic candidate for West Virginia who can get that SOB out of office?
femmedem
(8,197 posts)It sounds hyperbolic to say so, but the climate crisis is going to kill hundreds of millions, maybe everyone.
UTUSN
(70,652 posts)modrepub
(3,491 posts)I think I already read this.
I'd like to point out a lot of facilities the Senator is "consulting" with also seem to have a lot of regulator work by the state of WV to alter operations such that the plants would be operating at a higher level. Which in turn makes sure the Senator's "consulting" fees would be higher.
No one in the M$M ever seems to call out the conflict of interest this Senator seems to have. I know several folks who work in Government who've recused themselves at the first hint of a conflict of interest. Mainly because they just want to avoid any appearance of a conflict. Never seems to bother any politicians and such.
Celerity
(43,142 posts)Nothing has changed since then in Manchin's favour.
In fact, he just now blocked Biden's Fed nominee, Sarah Bloom Raskin, over her climate change/fossil fuel stances.
Manchin to oppose Biden Fed pick over climate stances
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/598098-manchin-to-oppose-biden-fed-pick-over-climate-stances
Fed nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin withdraws after fight over her climate change stance
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/15/1086717729/fed-nominee-sarah-bloom-raskin-withdraws-nomination-climate-change
I wish we could force him and the rest of the climate deniers to be buried anywhere near the ocean where the elevation is less than 6 feet. That way their grand kids and great grand kids would have to wear scuba gear to visit them.
twodogsbarking
(9,680 posts)Corruption is optional.
RayStar
(417 posts)Who is surprised? Ms. Raskin lost a great position because of his love of coal or maybe the money.
TeamProg
(6,050 posts)BASTARD !!!
onecaliberal
(32,786 posts)Evolve Dammit
(16,702 posts)gulliver
(13,168 posts)Sorry, I'm just too conscious of the obvious for my own good, I guess. Or maybe it's me missing something. Have we forgotten that we only have half the Senate?
Honestly, every single one of these Manchin OPs should consider it a duty to explain what the plan is to get us more than half the Senate. Otherwise, these Manchin griping sessions just boil down to advocating the reduction of Dem power and the increase Republican power. That makes them immoral in a very straightforward analysis.
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)Hes corrupt.
Would a republican be any better?
No.
But that doesnt mean we should just ignore the fact that Manchin is corrupt.
turbinetree
(24,685 posts)Response to SoonerPride (Original post)
jfz9580m This message was self-deleted by its author.