https://www.theepochtimes.com/sen-joe-manchin-the-coal-industry-has-to-be-saved_3956815.html Sen. Joe Manchin: ‘The Coal Industry Has To Be Saved’ In a notable break with progressives, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in an interview that the coal industry “will be saved, has to be saved, because the country can’t survive without it.”
or he wants to be re-elected in his state which lives off of coal... it is so funny how in approaches to elections Senators suddenly remember they have a constituency and those local issues suddenly become national crises (sp?). WVA has such poverty I guess coal is the only way he can promise jobs...
Generally it is true that foreign policy failures do not necessarily affect the domestic agenda of a president but the sheer magnitude of this one is going to influence everything. Are we going to take medical advice from these clowns? Are we going to hand them 4.5 trillion dollars to spend? Does anyone think that money will be spent soberly, morally and competently? Is anyone ever going to listen to Joe Biden talking about gun control? He just fumbled 600,000 main battle guns, light machine guns, squad assault weapons, machine guns and grenade launchers into enemy hands.
Coal is still needed by for steel production (Its the reducing agent, in the form of coke, in conversion of iron oxides to iron metal). U.S. production, peaked in the early 1970s. recently it has been rising again. U.S. production is still less than in the peak years. ~95 Million tons produced in the U.S. in 2018. It is essential that we support and retrain miners put out of work by conversion of power production to natural gas. Manchin is right, we must have a coal industry, but coal production is going to drop as coal fired power plants are converting to Natural Gas.
Would be cheaper to spend money on retraining and/or relocation of those losing work due to coal reduction to jobs not tied to coal then dumping money to keep coal afloat. Less health risks to deal with as coal is dirty and cancerous to mine and better career futures for retrained workers to lift many in WVA out of poverty.
Nice platitudes but how would that actually work? You're going to relocate all the coal miners, pay their expenses and retrain them? How on Earth is that cheaper?
Then artifically subsidizing an industry that is dying out? Coal mines are going to close down on their own as we move to cleaner energy naturally so passing legislation to artificailly subsidize it is a waste of taxpayer's money. Rather then let the workers get canned and go on welfare and see icnreased poverty and crime in those areas, offer retrianing for other careers and incentivize other businesses to come into WVA. Yes it is cheaper than just letting a couple of thousand people move on to benefits and welfare. That is much cheaper than throwing money to keep it afloat so Manchin can win another election.
Some of y’all need to go for a little trip into the hollers of Appalachia. I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot of this country east of the Mississippi when I was starting my early work life. That old song, I’ve been everywhere, man, really applies to me. And let me tell all y’all something, Appalachia is probably the saddest region of this country. The poverty is true. The health crisis is true. But what they don’t tell you all about is how spoiled the land is from coal mining. Specifically, the water. I learned about this stuff first hand going up into West Virginia. I can’t say if it’s so now but 20 odd years ago, many families were still drawing water off of well systems and had outdoor plumbing. And they would show me the water with oils and chemical skim on top and explain that was from the slurry getting into the land. Now I get things have changed but there is a lot of Appalachia that is basically ruined from coal. Beautiful areas with wild flowers and amazing views that will poison you and your loved ones.