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Manchin Accepts Thousands From Anti-Coal Democrat in Second Quarter

Sen. Joe Manchin / Getty Images
July 19, 2017

Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) recently accepted thousands of dollars in donations from a political action committee founded by a fellow Senate Democrat who wants to put "every coal electricity generating plant in a museum," a Federal Election Commission report revealed Wednesday.

The FEC report showed that Manchin accepted at least $75,00 from fellow Democrats in the second quarter of this year.

One contributor is Democratic Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley's PAC, Opportunity and Renewal PAC. The group donated $2,500 to Manchin's reelection campaign on June 30. The Oregon senator has been outspoken about transforming the U.S. energy economy and moving away from coal.

Merkley back in March joined a group of Senate Democrats that included Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to re-introduce the Keep it in the Ground Act. The act was a response to President Donald Trump's executive order that lifted the moratorium on federal coal leasing.

Merkley has not hidden his desire to pivot the United States away from coal, a traditional staple of West Virginia's economy that Manchin has touted during his tenure in the Senate.

"Let's take and put every coal electricity generating plant into a museum," Merkley said at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference in May.

Manchin, on the other hand, has been vocal about saving the coal industry and the need for coal miners.

Manchin met with Secretary of Energy Rick Perry earlier this month as they toured a coal power plant in Maidsville, West Virginia.

"I was thrilled to show my good friend Secretary Perry around my great state of West Virginia and show him all we have to offer," Manchin said in a press release. "I know that Secretary Perry will work with us to help seize upon our state's energy opportunities, whether it be through pushing advanced coal technologies or cultivating innovative infrastructure systems for natural gas and natural gas liquids."