Sen. Joe Manchin’s income from his family’s coal business has seen a significant decline in recent years as the industry shrinks, his latest financial disclosure shows.
Last year, the West Virginia Democrat earned $389,987 from Enersystems, the coal supply company he founded decades ago, according to the Senate ethics disclosure he filed this month. That’s a sharp drop from the $613,142 he made five years ago, according to earlier filings.
Enersystems supplies coal to the 80-megawatt Grant Town power plant in West Virginia, not far from where Manchin grew up in Farmington, in the northeastern corner of the state.
Manchin has long portrayed himself as an ally of the coal industry and its chief advocate in the West Virginia statehouse in Charleston as well as on Capitol Hill. He has routinely advocated for policies that benefit the coal industry, while also opposing climate policy that would more aggressively shift the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels. His support for the Inflation Reduction Act — the 2022 climate law — was contingent on the inclusion of oil and gas lease sales, among other industry-friendly provisions.
