Joe Manchin Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Rivers, Manchin’s Successor, Firing Up A Gas Pipeline And New Power Plant Rules, This West Virginia Week

On this West Virginia Week, Earth Day was Monday. We’ll hear from a hydrologist about the state’s rivers. We’ll learn more about why two leading candidates for governor are trading accusations in ads over transgender youth. And we’ll visit a community in southern West Virginia affected by contaminated water.

On this West Virginia Week, Earth Day was Monday. We’ll hear from a hydrologist about the state’s rivers. We’ll learn more about why two leading candidates for governor are trading accusations in ads over transgender youth. And we’ll visit a community in southern West Virginia affected by contaminated water.

We’ll also talk about what’s next for opponents of new federal power plant rules. We’ll find out who Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has endorsed to be his successor in the Senate. And we’ll learn when a long-delayed controversial natural gas pipeline proposes to begin operating.

Curtis Tate is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.

West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Randy Yohe.

Learn more about West Virginia Week.

EPA Foes Vow To Block Power Plant Rules. It May Not Matter

Regardless of whether the rule stands or falls, the standards it sets could happen anyway.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its final rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants Thursday, and the reaction from state officials was swift.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said he’d take the case to court. Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she’d introduce a repeal resolution in the Senate. Democrat Joe Manchin, who’s not running for re-election, said he’d support her measure.

Regardless of whether the rule stands or falls, the standards it sets could happen anyway.

Morrisey was successful in his bid to block President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The U.S. Supreme Court sided with him in West Virginia v EPA two years ago.

The policy never took effect. But as Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis for the Natural Resources Defense Council, points out, the goals it set were met, and earlier than planned.

“That was also a rule at that time, there were concerns about whether or not the power sector would be able to achieve it, and it ended up achieving those standards 11 years early, even though the rule was stayed,” she said.

Now, as then, critics of the rules, including some in the electric power sector, say they can’t be achieved. Manchin points to the 2021 winter storm in Texas that caused deadly power outages.

“We saw what happened in Texas, how many people’s lives were lost, how much was disrupted in the economy, went to heck in a handbasket down there when their gas lines froze up.” he said.

The failures in Texas, and more recently in the eastern United States in late 2022, were mostly of fossil fuel infrastructure, especially natural gas. Renewables and battery storage helped hold the Texas power grid through last summer’s heat.

Levin says the new EPA rules come at a time when electric utilities are rapidly building wind, solar and battery storage. They’ve already surpassed coal and even nuclear.

“Clean energy sources are now the cheapest and fastest growing source of new power generation,” she said.

Even West Virginia is building more solar and will soon begin building storage batteries.

Mon Power activated the largest solar facility in the state in January in Monongalia County and is building another one in Harrison County.

Form Energy is building a long-duration storage battery plant in Weirton. Other companies coming to West Virginia, including steelmaker Nucor, wanted access to renewable power.

Phil Moye, a spokesman for Appalachian Power, which operates three coal plants in West Virginia, says the company is looking at the EPA rules to see how they affect plant operations and future investments.

“The development of new dispatchable generation resources and storage technologies will be critical in determining how quickly the industry can meet the requirements of the new rules,” he said.

Appalachian Power is an underwriter of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

EPA To Require Coal And New Gas Power Plants To Cut Emissions

The power plant rules align with changes that have been happening in the sector in the past decade. Electric utilities have moved sharply away from coal, largely switching to natural gas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rolled out its final rules to cut emissions from existing coal-fired and new gas power plants.

Those plants will have to ultimately cut their carbon dioxide emissions by 90 percent or shut down.

The new rules include updated limits on mercury and other toxic pollutants from plants that burn coal. They also include changes to how power plants dispose of the wastewater that results from treating coal emissions to remove toxic pollutants.

Finally, the rules require the cleanup of coal ash disposal sites that were closed prior to 2015.

“By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

The power plant rules align with changes that have been happening in the sector in the past decade. Electric utilities have moved sharply away from coal, largely switching to natural gas.

“This year, the United States is projected to build more new electric generation capacity than we have in two decades – and 96 percent of that will be clean,” said White House Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi.

Renewables such as wind and solar account for an increasing percentage of power generation and have surpassed coal.

Still, fossil fuel producing states, and some industry groups, are expected to challenge the new rules. Some will argue that the rules will have a negative economic impact on power plant communities. Others will say the rules will make the power grid less reliable.

“We will be challenging this rule,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a statement issued soon after the new rules were published. “The U.S. Supreme Court has placed significant limits on what the EPA can do—we plan on ensuring that those limits are upheld, and we expect that we will once again prevail in court against this out-of-control agency.”

Morrisey, who’s running in West Virginia’s Republican primary for governor, led a successful challenge of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v EPA two years ago constrained the EPA’s rulemaking process. Morrisey and others are likely to argue that the agency still overstepped its authority.

Others say the grid simply isn’t ready for a massive shift away from traditional baseload power to more intermittent sources of energy such as wind and solar.

“This barrage of new EPA rules ignores our nation’s ongoing electric reliability challenges and is the wrong approach at a critical time for our nation’s energy future,” said Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Adding to the uncertainty, a change in administrations after this year’s election could result in a rollback of the new rules.

If the rules hold up, the EPA projects $370 billion in climate and public health benefits over the next two decades. The agency’s analysis predicts a reduction of 1.38 billion tons of CO2 through 2047, the equivalent of the annual emissions of 328 million gasoline powered cars.

The EPA is also gathering public input on a proposal to cut emissions from existing gas-fired power plants. Natural gas is currently the nation’s top source of electricity, and though it produces lower carbon emissions than coal, the production and transportation of gas emits methane, a more powerful heat-trapping gas than CO2.

The EPA’s principal solution for coal and gas plants to comply with the new rules is carbon capture and storage. But the technology has not been deployed successfully on a commercial scale, and power plant operators say that the rules will force fossil fuel plants to effectively shut down.

“It is obvious that the ultimate goal of these EPA regulations is to stop the use of fossil fuels to produce reliable energy in the United States by forcing the premature closure of coal plants and blocking new natural gas plants,” said U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Another powerful foe of the EPA rules vowed Thursday that she’d introduce a bill to repeal them.

“To protect millions of Americans, including energy workers, against executive overreach that has already been tried and rejected by the Supreme Court,” said U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, “I will be introducing a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to overturn the EPA’s job-killing regulations announced today.”

Capito is the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees the EPA and confirms its administrator.

Manchin Endorses Wheeling Mayor For US Senate Primary

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., endorsed Mayor of Wheeling Glenn Elliott for the Democratic primary election in this year’s race for the United States Senate.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has endorsed a potential successor in the race for his United States Senate seat.

Manchin released a video Monday announcing his support for Glenn Elliott, the current mayor of Wheeling, in West Virginia’s May 14 Democratic primary election.

“He has the determination, the vigor and vitality to do the work required to be successful in the U.S. Senate here in Washington, D.C.,” Manchin said. “He’ll show up every day to fight for West Virginia to create jobs, grow our economy and make a better life for our people.”

After serving as senator since 2010, Manchin announced he would not seek reelection last November, citing frustrations over a tense partisan divide in Washington.

Manchin’s decision opened the door for new Democratic candidates like Elliott, who are vying to represent their party in the November general election despite the state’s increasingly Republican base. Manchin is the only Democrat currently holding statewide office in West Virginia.

To secure a place in the state’s Nov. 5 general election, Elliott must defeat two opponents in the Democratic primary: former Marine Zach Shrewsbury and former coal executive Don Blankenship.

Elliott said he was “thrilled” by the endorsement, and that his reputation for “working across the aisle” and “getting things done” helped secure Manchin’s support.

“The senator has made very clear he thinks politics in Washington is broken. One of the advantages of being a mayor is — especially wherever a town like Wheeling is — you don’t really have the luxury of letting politics get broken,” he said. “You gotta get things done.”

With this fall’s general election looming, West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race has become a focal point for both the Democratic and Republican parties nationally.

Both chambers of the United States Congress are led by narrow partisan majorities, with Democrats leading in the Senate and Republicans leading in the United States House of Representatives.

Political analysts have predicted that West Virginia will likely flip to a Republican senator in this year’s general election, which would threaten the Democratic Party’s already tenuous Senate majority.

Elliott said that Manchin’s endorsement suggested that “he thinks I’m the best option to keep the Senate seat going forward.”

Now backed by Manchin, Elliott said he hopes his campaign will appeal to West Virginia voters seeking a candidate who can follow through on their needs in Washington.

“We need folks who have a record of getting things done and who are doers,” he said. “I certainly bring that experience and perspective to the race.”

MSHA Issues Final Rule To Lower Silica Dust Exposure In Mines

As expected, the new MSHA rule lowers the maximum exposure to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air during an eight-hour shift.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued its final rule lowering silica dust exposure for coal miners Tuesday, a long awaited change amid growing concern about black lung disease.

As expected, the new MSHA rule lowers the maximum exposure to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air during an eight-hour shift. The current limit is 100 micrograms per cubic meter.

The rule will take effect on June 17. Coal producers will have 12 months to comply. Metal and nonmetal mine operators will have 24 months.

Respirable crystalline silica is a carcinogen. It can cause lung disease, silicosis, lung cancer, progressive massive fibrosis and kidney disease. Coal dust containing silica dust has been shown to increase the severity of black lung cases and affect miners in their 30s and 40s.

The silica dust problem is thought to be caused by the mechanization of mining, especially in central Appalachia. Large machines grind through larger volumes of rock to maximize coal production.

Mine operators are supposed to ventilate mine work areas to lower the concentration of coal and rock dust, as well as methane.

Studies have shown in recent years that 1 in 5 miners in central Appalachia has black lung.

An investigation of the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster in Raleigh County found that 17 of the 24 miners whose lung tissue could be sampled showed signs of black lung disease. A total of 29 miners died in the explosion, caused by a mixture of methane and coal dust.

MSHA rolled out the silica dust rule at an event Tuesday morning in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

U.S. senators from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, including Sen. Joe Manchin, praised the rule, though they had previously criticized the agency for delays to its implementation.

Read NPR’s coverage here.

Preston County Prison Workers Get Pay Bump To Boost Retention

Employees at Federal Correctional Complex Hazelton who are in good standing will receive a 25 percent pay increase — part of an effort to boost staff retention and promote facility safety.

Personnel at a Preston County prison will soon receive a 25 percent pay increase, following union protests over understaffing last year.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the United States Office of Personnel Management approved the pay increase Thursday as part of an effort to increase staff retention at the Federal Correctional Complex Hazelton.

Staffing issues at the federal prison gained attention in 2018 following the deaths of three inmates in a seven-month span, including the murder of an inmate serving a life sentence.

Leadership changes following the incident improved staffing levels at the facility, according to corrections officer Justin Tarovisky, who also serves as union president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 420 chapter.

Tarovisky’s union represents more than 600 workers at the facility, from West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, he said.

But the departure of some members of the facility’s leadership, coupled with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated prior staffing issues to a new degree, Tarovisky said.

“Since that, we’ve drastically declined,” he said. In September, union representatives reported that more than 80 corrections officer positions were vacant.

Tarovisky said that understaffing in correctional facilities poses safety risks for current personnel.

“I mean, we’re a 24-hour operation. It’s not a job where you just leave at the end of the day, you go home, and you don’t have nobody there,” he said. “We have to have correctional officers at the facility to run a safe mission.”

To raise awareness about challenges to the facility, union workers lined a Monongalia County roadside last September, picketing with bright-colored signs demanding new hiring initiatives.

“We need hiring incentives to bring in new recruits,” Tarovisky said. “You have a lot of other law enforcement agencies within this country — whether it’s state police, whether it’s corrections in Pennsylvania — that … were offering higher incentives. So why would you want to come to Hazelton?”

Tarovisky said state officials were receptive to the union’s requests.

In November, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) urging the organization’s approval of a 25 percent retention incentive for staff at the facility.

“FCC Hazelton faces a dangerous staffing shortage that, while challenging, could be improved by providing current employees with a much-deserved pay increase,” he wrote in the letter.

After the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published a report in February that the BOP failed to prevent the deaths of 14 inmates at the West Virginia facility in just eight years — the second-highest number in the nation — Manchin renewed his calls for federal intervention.

Other allegations disclosed in a 2023 DOJ report included the falsification of documents from supervisory staff at the facility; the usage of racial slurs and punitive housing restrictions from workers; and even the assault of inmates by facility staff.

Manchin said that understaffing exacerbated dangerous conditions like these in the facility. Likewise, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said that the 2023 DOJ findings suggested the facility was unable to provide a safe environment for inmates and workers.

Tarovisky credits calls from West Virginia’s senators, plus additional support from U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, with pushing the pay increase forward.

“Unbelievable job, what they’ve done for the staff at Hazelton. This is what we’ve been asking for, and this is what they’ve been pressing on,” he said. “They put all politics aside to represent the people at FCC Hazelton.”

The pay raise will apply to all of the facility’s corrections officers who are currently in good standing. But it will also bump starting salaries at the facility up by 25 percent, which Tarovisky said will help make the facility more enticing in a competitive job market.

“That’s what’s so great about this,” he said. “Now, we can compete even higher with other agencies.”

Manchin applauded the new funding in a Thursday press release, adding that he hopes it will reduce safety risks in the prison.

“The facility has long suffered from severe staffing shortages, especially of correctional officers, that have resulted in a hostile environment for both employees and inmates,” he said. “This pay incentive is much-deserved for current employees and will help recruit new qualified officers and staff, which will promote safer conditions for employees and inmates.”

**Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that allegations of falsified documents and staff abuse came from a February 2024 Department of Justice report. They came from a September 2023 report. The story has been updated with the correction.