Outside Congressional Republicans and dirty energy CEOs, basically everyone is mad at Sen. Joe Manchin for announcing he was a “no” on the Build Back Better Act. That includes coal miners.
The United Mine Workers of America on Monday afternoon politely but firmly told the West Virginia senator to reconsider his position on the legislation that would reshape the American energy landscape. That miners are out here asking for the Build Back Better Act to get a fair shake says a lot about the benefits it contains—and it speaks even louder about who, exactly, Manchin was trying to protect when he said this version of the bill was dead.
“We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families, and their communities,” UMWA President Cecil Roberts said in a statement.
Among the parts of the Build Back Better Act that Roberts highlighted were benefits for miners suffering from black lung. There’s currently a federal fund that provides those benefits, paid for by a fee on coal companies. The disease is prevalent for thousands of miners across Appalachia, a side effect of inhaling coal dust on the job. An increasing number of miners are dying from it, pointing to the urgent need for benefits to help them deal with the respiratory issue before it becomes fatal.
Yet with Manchin’s “no” on the act, the fees coal companies have paid into the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund are set to end this year. The act would’ve extended them in 2025. Federal data shows the fund doled out nearly $41 million to black lung sufferers in West Virginia in 2020, nearly a quarter of all funds dispersed in the U.S.
Roberts also noted the bill had provisions to “provide tax incentives to encourage manufacturers to build facilities in the coalfields that would employ thousands of coal miners who have lost their jobs. We support that and are ready to help supply those plants with a trained, professional workforce.” And it also included language that would fine employers for union-busting, which UMWA also supported. (Given mining unions’ long, bloody history at the hands of owners and present fights, that makes a lot of sense.)
One of Manchin’s primary arguments against the act was that he didn’t know how to pitch it at home. But UMWA’s statement is tailormade to a state that has relied heavily on the coal industry for its economy and identity. (There are other benefits Manchin could’ve easily picked out, like giving people with kids money to, uh, buy food, but I digress.)
Instead, Manchin appears to have sided with the bosses for now; he’s a top campaign recipient of money from the coal, mining, oil and gas extraction, and gas transmission and distribution industries and comes in third with utilities. The owners in those industries have opposed Build Back Better because it would curtail their profits. But the new UMWA statement shows that workers, at least, are ready to be at the table of the energy transition.
Roberts’ statement opened by praising Manchin for the senator’s past support and noted their “long and friendly relationship.” We also know Manchin has been cozy with Exxon and other polluters. Now, it seems like the senator needs to decide who he wants to sit with.
