CHARLESTON – A new presidential administration in Washington means a new focus for West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
Morrisey, who supported President Donald Trump and most of his policies for four years, now takes on the role of watchdog as President Joe Biden and his administration work to undo much of what Trump did, especially in terms of environmental and fossil fuel policies.
It’s a role Morrisey is familiar with, having done the same thing for President Barack Obama’s second term. Morrisey just started his third four-year term as West Virginia's AG.
“Of course, we have been very busy looking at all of the Biden executive actions issued over the last few weeks,” Morrisey told The West Virginia Record in a recent interview. “More than his predecessors. And, it’s just unfortunate.
“He’s clearly going to be circumventing the traditional democratic process of working with Congress.”
That prompted Morrisey and some other Republican AGs to send a letter to Biden “outlining the rules of the road.”
“But they’ve blown past that,” Morrisey said. “So we likely will be in court very very soon with key initiatives to protect West Virginia jobs. He has an early marker on West Virginia coal, oil, gas and manufacturing jobs. That’s utterly unacceptable.
“My office will be the one to stand up against one-party rule. Right now, the Democrats rule all in Washington. It’s going to be up to our office to forge the way and ensure West Virginia interests are protected.”
Morrisey said he’s proud to have led the charge against the Green New Deal.
“We’re involved in that litigation, some of it actually left over from the Obama administration,” he said. “Now, Biden is taking those Obama policies and putting them on steroids – the Clean Power Plan, his aggressive effort to renew the Waters of The United States (WOTUS) rule, using parts of EPA authority to change how energy systems are managed in our country.
“All of it compromises America’s energy independence.”
Morrisey also praised his team’s batting average in the courts against what he calls federal overreach, noticeably two victories concerning the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Keystone permit.
“That is a sign that the Supreme Court is going to be fair and reasonable on these types of fossil fuel issues,” he said. “But, of course, we will never presume anything with the high court.”
Morrisey said his office always will do what it can to protect West Virginia and the nation from federal overreach, but sometimes his team will work with other AGs to share the load.
“We’ve been ready for this,” Morrisey said of the new administration. “We are prepared because West Virginia jobs are at stake.
“And I can’t stress enough how critical it is to get to work early on this so West Virginia doesn’t suffer like it did under the Obama administration.”
Morrisey said his office is more than willing to work with the Biden administration.
“We’re open minded,” he said. “If it’s good for West Virginia, we’re all for it. That’s my litmus test: Does it help West Virginia and adhere to the rule of law?
“There are other issue I’m optimistic we can work with them on. But as for coal, oil, gas and manufacturing, it looks like Biden isn’t think about the impact on West Virginia. And that’s unacceptable.”
Morrisey said fighting the drug epidemic also is a big issue for the coming year and for the rest of his third term in office.
“We’ve done so much and have started making progress on the numbers, such as prescriptions and our ability to ween people away from addiction,” he said. “COVID has put some of that at risk, and it’s critical that we double down now.
“Whenever there is a public health crisis like this, other things are sometimes forgotten. And, the opioid epidemic hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves.”
Morrisey said as settlement money comes into his office, his goal is to drive that toward fixing the problem. He said he plans to roll out a number of new initiatives regarding the drug epidemic soon.
“With this new recovery fund, we can make a real difference,” he said. “We’ll work with the Legislature and others to figure out the best ways to spend these precious resources to keep investing to fight this problem.
“We’re going to push to do as much as possible to help fight the opioid epidemic. But, some people on the far left in West Virginia have tried to make it a partisan issue.
“Also, I’m hopeful the Biden administration will build on the success from the Trump administration regarding opioids.”
Morrisey said expanding broadband access in the state is another priority.
“In the aftermath of COVID, we want to make sure West Virginia is on everyone’s list as a place to live and to do business,” he said. “Broadband access will allow our state to compete. The keys to attracting and growing our population are having a world-class education system, a good tax code and better connectivity. It’s so critical to have better broadband in West Virginia.”
Morrisey said people should have options that work for them.
“We’ll keep pushing for companies to double down on what they’re doing in West Virginia because, frankly, they haven’t done enough,” he said. “We will keep pushing and working with the Legislature on this issue as well.
“We have a chance to service a great deal of West Virginia’s population through new broadband initiatives.”
Morrisey said 2020 was a busy year for his office, but he said he expects 2021 to be equally so.
“I think we just have to be ready for the volume of litigation in front of us,” he said. “Last year, we had lots of election law litigation and COVID litigation. We’ll have more this year on the federal side.
“We just want to continue all of our good work and doing stuff in house. We have saved the state so much money by having the right staff internally and through our competitive bidding process for outside counsel.
“We do so much work through our office, but there sometimes is a need for some outside counsel. It’s always been my mindset in this job to view the taxpayer’s money as your own. We really care about preserving taxpayer dollars. It’s West Virginia and its taxpayers first.”