Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of “abandoned land mines” in West Virginia when talking about job creation.
During a local interview with WSAZ 3, the vice president correlated the administration’s push for clean energy with the creation of new jobs.
“All of those skilled workers who are in the coal industry and transferring those skills to what we need to do in terms of reclaiming abandoned land mines,” Harris said.
“What we need to do around plugging leaks from oil and gas wells, and transferring those important skills to the work that has yet to be done, and needs to get done.”
While land mines typically refer to underground explosives, Harris’s gaffe was most likely referring to abandoned coal or strip mines.
.@KamalaHarris says there will be job creation around “reclaiming abandoned land mines” in West Virginia.
“All of those skilled workers who are in the coal industry and transferring those skills to what we need to do in terms of dealing with reclaiming abandoned land mines.” pic.twitter.com/xnXP3ra8bN
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 31, 2021
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House for clarification but did not receive an immediate response.
West Virginia, a state heavily reliant on the coal industry, would be one that could be affected by the Biden administration’s push to move out of the fossil fuel industries.
President Biden has already taken steps to prioritize the threat of climate change as one of his top issues. On his first day in office, Biden reenlisted the United States in the Paris climate accord.
Last week, the president signed a number of executive orders related to climate concerns, including a ban on some energy drilling and a freeze on new oil and gas leases on public lands. Climate Envoy John Kerry reiterated claims that the administration is seeking to replace any potentially lost jobs with a new, green economy.
West Virginia lawmakers had mixed reactions to Biden’s climate plan and how it would affect workers in their state.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin applauded the investment into his state but said he plans to hold the administration accountable in that the burden of accelerated changes is not “unduly placed on these communities.”
Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito argued that the country’s energy sector produces high-paying jobs, and the Biden administration was going “backward” on energy.
“In West Virginia, we remember the effects of this playbook originally created during the Obama administration,” Capito told West Virginia MetroNews.
“America is a proud energy producer, and paralyzing an entire industry full of high-paying jobs and propping up hostile countries with fewer environmental regulations does little to combat global climate change and creates resentment at home.”
Biden vowed the administration would do due diligence to rebuild communities that may be at the center of the shift toward clean energy.
Read rest at Washington Examiner
VP Kamala is talking about either government-paid jobs or jobs paid for by extracting money from the former or current mine owners. If the reclamation is government run, you KNOW it will be done poorly and inefficiently. Either way, she wants to produce jobs that really produce nothing but gets more dependent on handouts by gov’t. Mines already are regulated to do reclamation, or does she not know that?
I have a constructive suggestion. Folks in the Biden Administration need to spend a couple hours on the Energy Information Administration (EIA) website. This is the segment of the Dept. of Energy that compiles statistics and uses available data to make projections. If you understand that fossil fuels provide EIGHTY percent of your nations primary energy and they are currently forecast with present known technologies to provide over SIXTY percent in 2050, you might think they’d PAUSE on their ongoing predispositions and consequent policy initiatives. There is a HUGE disconnect regarding thoughtful & informed debate on the energy transition vs. the “mantra” being espoused by the White House. If you look at the best science available at reputable sources like EIA, it is incongruent with the current energy strategy being put forward. That is being diplomatic…
BTW: As far as the VP’s reference to “orphaned” oil & gas wells, just about every producing State already has a plugging contingency fund. Like mine reclamation, it is well established process that has long been underway. LOTS of work to do, but if you want it done timely. efficiently & cost effectively you are (probably) better served keeping the federal government OUT of that process…
November 4, 2020 Wind and solar energy are ruining the planet
This is a get rich quick scheme for the utilities and their investors and a disaster for ratepayers, the people, and the environment. Rates are skyrocketing wherever industrial wind and solar build-out have occurred.
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/11/04/wind-and-solar-energy-are-ruining-the-planet/