Democrat Energy Policy Civil War: Manchin Blasts Biden’s Coal Shutdown Comments

Manchin

h/t Breitbart – President Biden’s insensitive comments about the imminent shutdown of coal have triggered a fiery response from coal state Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV).

My statement on comments President Biden made about shutting down coal plants: pic.twitter.com/LEeqrGdwqm

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin)

November 5, 2022

President Biden’s comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs. Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure. It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day. Politicising our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American People.

Let me be clear, this is something the President has never said to me. Being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting. The President owes these incredible workers an immediate and public apology and it is time he learn a lesson that his words matter and have consequences.

President Biden appeared to leave no doubt about his feelings towards coal, in his statements which triggered the response from Joe Manchin;

… “I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America,” Biden said at an event in Carlsbad, California, on Friday. “Guess what? It cost them too much money. They can’t count. No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it. Even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant.

“So it’s going to become a wind generation. And all they’re doing is it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on, we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power, also providing tax credits to help families buy energy efficient appliances, whether it’s your refrigerator or your coffee maker, for solar panels on your home, weatherize your home, things that save an average, experts say, a minimum of $500 a year for the average family.” …

President Biden’s press secretary responded to Manchin’s demand for an apology, by suggesting Biden’s words had been twisted.

Statement by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

President Biden knows that the men and women of coal country built this nation:  they powered its steel mills and factories, kept its homes and schools and offices warm.  They made this the most productive and powerful nation on Earth.  He came to the White House to end years of big words but little action to help the coal-producing parts of our country.  Working closely with Senator Manchin, a tireless advocate for his state and the hard-working men and women who live there, President Biden has helped get this part of the country back to work:  the unemployment rate in West Virginia was 6.2% the last month before Joe Biden took office; now it is down to 4%.  The President’s plans are already bringing new energy and manufacturing jobs to the region, and in the years ahead, will continue to create new jobs with projects like hydrogen energy generation.  In fact, through the Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities, President Biden has already delivered more than $23 billion to energy communities across the country.   The President’s remarks yesterday have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense.  The President was commenting on a fact of economics and technology:  as it has been from its earliest days as an energy superpower, America is once again in the midst of an energy transition.  Our goal as a nation is to combat climate change and increase our energy security by producing clean and efficient American energy.  Under President Biden, oil and natural gas production has increased, and we are on track to hit the highest production in our country’s history next year.  He is determined to make sure that this transition helps all Americans in all parts of the country, with more jobs and better opportunities; it’s a commitment he has advanced since Day One.  No one will be left behind.

As far as I know Manchin didn’t get his apology. And I for one don’t accept the assertion that Biden’s words were twisted.

In my opinion coal workers could reasonably interpret President Biden’s words as neglect, if not outright hostility towards coal – a position Manchin appears to support. Biden’s statements about the unreliability of coal seem clear enough, even if Biden’s claims are completely absurd.

The reality is there is nothing unreliable about coal. Coal created the modern world. Coal powered the US manufacturing golden age, and could do so again. Coal lifted Asian nations from starving peasant economies into industrial and manufacturing superpowers, in less than a human lifetime.

Given the correlation between coal use and prosperity, it seems no accident that Biden’s attacks on coal are sending the American economy backwards, with rampant inflation, food and energy bills sucking the wealth out of ordinary Americans. Just as coal lifted us all into modernity and prosperity, abandoning coal could achieve the opposite.

There are plenty of hungry people out there, billions of people who earn a few dollars a day or less, who go to bed hungry and malnourished. Some of those people live in nations which were once wealthy. Places like Venezuela, once one of the wealthiest nations in South America, which lost everything in just a few decades, thanks to political incompetence and corruption.

History teaches us prosperity is fragile. All it takes is a series of bad rulers, sometimes just one bad ruler, to undo the progress of generations. At any moment a key economic support could collapse under the weight of Biden’s political hostility, maybe something we aren’t even aware of, and bring down everything which depends on it. The entire economy could come tumbling down in a heap. This could happen with very little warning – the rotten tree looks sturdy until it falls before the storm.

America could end up going down the same path as Venezuela, unless something is done to mitigate and repair the economic damage being caused by Biden’s war on prosperity and affordable energy.

 

 

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