Joe Manchin’s connections to the oil and gas industry are no secret. The West Virginia senator is among the leading recipients of donations from fossil fuel companies in Congress, and he still has substantial interests in a coal brokerage firm that he co-founded and which is now owned by his son.
But those ties are under renewed scrutiny following the announcement on Friday that his chief of staff, Lance West, is leaving his office for the top lobbying job at the American Petroleum Institute, a group that represents oil and gas interests.
