Coal Plant Won’t Pay Its Rent, but Can Pay Joe Manchin

One of Senator Joe Manchin’sbiggest financial windfallsis also late on rent — very late .

E&E Newsreported this weekthat West Virginia ’s Grant Town Power Plant , which is a major client of Manchin ’s coal waste byplay Enersystems , has n’t paid rip in 10 age , as part of a drawn - out effectual battle with its landlord that reached the West Virginia Supreme Court this month . That has n’t finish the plant from engender C of thousands of dollars in profit for Manchin in late years . Funny how that works !

The situation between Grant Town ’s owner , American Bituminous Power Partners LP ( cutely referred to as “ Ambit ” ) , and its landlord is complicated , to say the least . The plant is on the site of an older ember mine in West Virginia , owned by a companionship called Horizon Ventures . Ambit and Horizon signed a hefty , complex lease nearly three decades ago . Part of the requital they worked out for the plant ’s split was ground on how much on - site fuel it uses : Ambit would pay more in rent to Horizon the more on - site fuel it used for big businessman .

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., responds to questions from reporters before a meeting with his fellow Democrats at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., responds to questions from reporters before a meeting with his fellow Democrats at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades (AP)

Ambit , however , has been power the Grant Town plant mainly with off - site coal wastefulness ( shout out , uproariously , “ gob ” ) that it buys from Manchin ’s company , Enersystems . That ’s led to a difference of opinion with Horizon over how much charter the Grant Town plant actually owes ; Horizon process in 2013 , and the courtship has dragged on since then . The court has set up rip payment stop as the cause proceeds , an Ambit official tell E&E — stand for that the Grant Town plant has n’t paid rent for nearly a tenner . Must be squeamish to be a coal waste - fired power plant .

Even though it ’s doing the big businessman plant equivalent of squatting and save a pretty centime on rip , Grant Town , its owners have aver , is in deep fiscal trouble . burn gob , the stuff it grease one’s palms from Manchin ’s Enersystems , is not chintzy . Gob , which is a much dirtier source of fuel than coal , is also more expensive thanks to extra labour and electric pig costs . The Grant Town plant say in 2017 that it barely had enough money to detain subject and pay faculty , and could n’t afford upgrades to its organization or even to close down all . ( In the former auditory modality before the West Virginia Supreme Court , E&E reported , an Ambit attorney claimed “ elderly debt ” was foreclose the troupe from pay rent — even though all adhesion were pay off in 2020 . )

The industrial plant has also requested multiple rate hikes to keep its doors open ; according to public records seen by E&E , customers in West Virginia have pay more than $ 100 million over the past few years to keep the plant undefended . The plant is so dire for a raw financial receipts stream that it tried to swivel to powering cryptocurrency minelaying procedure last year ; the proposition wasshot down by West Virginia regulatorsin January . ( Even with all these multiple rate boost and harebrained money schemes , Grant Town ’s Chief Executive reportedlytoldthe Public Service Commission last year that the “ business concern is in solid condition . ” Okay ! )

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The plant ’s financial struggles are n’t holding back Manchin ’s finances — to the opposite , Grant Town has been a liberal earner for the West Virginia senator . Grant Town has been Enersystems ’s one and only customer since 2008 . Since Manchin was elected , he and his wife have made $ 5 million off the plant , include nearly$500,000 in 2020 alone .

I ’m certain that keep coal - dismiss facilities like Grant Town capable and paying money into a company that lines his pockets has nothing to do with Manchin working to singlehandedlyderail climate legislation .

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