Conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is holding up his party’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure package, in part because he doesn’t like provisions in it that might reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. While his position might seem to play well in the coal fields of his home state, the Senator’s moves also directly benefit his multimillion-dollar coal empire — operations that have long avoided public scrutiny. But, as we note in this week’s Weekend Reader, a new bombshell report by Type Investigations and The Intercept has pulled back the curtain on those businesses  — revealing decades of safety violations, extensive pollution, and multiple deaths.

Read all about it in this week’s Weekend Reader, exclusively for paying subscribers below.