Another Manchin Staffer Cashes In

A former staffer for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) who played a key role in crafting the energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act has cashed in by taking a job working on policy for the energy industry.

Peter Stahley, who was a professional staffer to the Manchin-led Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from February 2021 until earlier this month, is now a senior vice president with D.C. government relations firm Cassidy & Associates. 

According to Stahley’s Linkedin, he was “Responsible for major provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including: mineral & supply chain initiatives including IRA tax credits, federal oil and gas leasing, offshore wind and CCUS authorities, and permitting improvements.” Stahley also says that he was the leader of efforts to advance bipartisan energy permitting reform legislation. 

As a professional staffer, congressional records indicate that Stahley earned about $140,000 per year; the average salary of a senior vice president at Cassidy & Associates is $232,000, according to Glassdoor. Stahley has not yet registered with the government as a lobbyist, but Cassidy & Associates’ website says he will work for its clients on carbon capture and storage, critical minerals, federal energy leasing, IRA energy and mineral tax credits, and other energy issues. Stahley's transition was first reported by LegiStorm.

One of Cassidy & Associates’ clients is Perkins Coie on behalf of Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, a joint venture of three energy companies that is behind a pet project of Sen. Manchin. In September 2022, Manchin attached a provision approving the natural gas pipeline project to an agreement he struck with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to vote in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Under the deal, as a condition for his vote for the IRA, Congress would take up and pass Manchin’s energy permitting reform bill that included the Mountain Valley Pipeline approval. Though much of Manchin’s permitting reform bill has not been passed, the senator was able to slip language accelerating the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline into a debt ceiling bill last year. Cassidy & Associates also lobbies for gas pipeline company Equitrans Midstream, one of the companies in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC venture.