Winds of Change Newsletter, December 2005     See sidebar for table of contents

Coal Industry Money Fuels Public Policy in West Virginia

by Janet Keating

“Since 1996, coal interests have contributed more than $4 million to candidates for Governor, Supreme Court and the Legislature. Over the past five election cycles, the industry has contributed over $2 million to gubernatorial campaigns and inaugurals, $1.5 million to legislative races and $529,332 to Supreme Court candidates.”

Thus begins the latest Coal report from PERC-WV. Little wonder that the industry runs rampant over our mountains, streams, forests and valley communities.

Is anyone really surprised that Governor Manchin still hasn’t called for thorough testing of air quality for coal dust and toxics at Marsh Fork Elementary School when he received $571,214 from coal interests, 12 percent of all contributions to his 2004 gubernatorial campaign and another $174,500 to his inaugural ball?

Let’s face it. Grade school children don’t contribute to political campaigns; their political influence is a big fat zero. And much of the coal industry’s power lies in its ability to peddle influence and achieve access to West Virginia’s politicians via campaign contributions.

Politicians claim they’re not influenced by campaign contributions. If that’s the case, why aren’t more of them outraged and outspoken about the flattening of our mountains, the destruction of small communities, and the annihilation of valuable hardwood forests and headwater streams by mountaintop removal?

Why aren’t they up in arms when our state’s waters are polluted repeatedly by blackwater (coal sludge) spills? Why are they not demanding that the coal industry follow current mining and environmental laws? Why did the legislature pass a bill in 2005 to take the writing of water quality standards away from an objective, scientific body (Environmental Quality Board) and place this important duty in the hands of the politically influenced Division of Environmental Protection?

PERC’s latest coal report has a simple answer to these and other troubling questions: $4 million in campaign contributions since 1996 and a record breaking, $1.7 million in 2004 were donated to “our” politicians by the coal industry and its supporters. This doesn’t even count the nearly $3 million expended by Massey CEO Don Blankenship to unseat Justice Warren McGraw from the WV Supreme Court.

In addition, contributions from Massey Energy executives and members of the company’s board of directors, combined with contributions from its PAC, made it the top industry contributor to political campaigns in 2004. Overall, contributions from individuals and PACs affiliated with the company totaled $115,325. Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin received $43,900 of that total.

While former coal executive turned governor, Cecil Underwood, has the dubious distinction of having received the most cash from the coal industry ($895,946), Governor Manchin holds the record for the most campaign dollars raised from coal interests in a single election ($571,214). Manchin also raised a record amount for his inaugural celebration, surpassing Cecil Underwood’s record, despite a $5,000 limit on inaugural contributions passed by the legislature in 1998. Manchin raised $1.3 million, including $174,500 from various coal and mining equipment companies as well as individuals affiliated with the industry, according to PERC-WV.

Until citizens demand a voluntary, public financing system of elections, like the Clean Elections laws passed in Maine, Arizona and elsewhere, we will all be affected by and pay for the corrupting influence of these campaign bribes…er, I mean contributions.

For a more detailed report on the coal industry’s campaign contributions from 1996-2004 in West Virginia, check out: www.wvoter-owned.org.

(Data for this report was provided by the People’s Election Reform Coalition [PERC-WV], a joint project of OVEC, WV-CAG and the Mountain State Education and Research Foundation.)