Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin closed out a Capitol Hill hearing by chastising fellow Democrats for backing climate change policies that make energy more expensive for poor families that can least afford it.
“We’re still producing 91 percent of our power from coal-fired units,” Manchin said at a Thursday Senate hearing on energy innovation and climate change. “Nothing has changed except the price has gone up for some of the most challenged incomes of people anywhere.”
“They get beat-up unmercifully, and all we have done is drive the price of coal-fired plants to the point to try and make our renewables look more competitive,” said Manchin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “It’s just a tremendous hardship.”
Being the number two coal-producing state, West Virginia was hit hard by the industry’s recent downturn. A combination of low-priced natural gas, government regulations, and green energy subsidies turned the economic tide against coal.
Manchin joined Republicans in criticizing many of the energy policies put forward by former President Barack Obama, whose main goal was tackling global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama administration regulations on power plants and mines put him at odds with coal miners, especially in the Appalachian states where anti-coal policies hit the hardest. These primarily rural areas lost roughly 36,000 coal jobs during Obama’s second term.
“We were so attractive to industries and manufacturing because we were in the four-cent category per kilowatt hour,” Manchin said. “We’re up to six and eight and ten cents now in the commercial arena. We used to be at six and eight cents in residential — we’re up to the national average. That’s what you can’t sell.”
State electricity prices have risen steadily over the past two decades, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
A big jump in prices came in 2015, the same year a major Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation on coal-fired power plant emissions went into effect.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
As coal-fired electricity becomes more expensive, demand for the fuel was displaced by natural gas. State policies mandating wind and solar power, along with federal subsidies, also forced coal plants and the mines that supported them to close.
Obama-era regulations, like the Clean Power Plan, were set to raise electricity prices even more in states that relied heavily on coal power.
The Trump administration repealed the Clean Power Plan along with other regulations seen as part of the so-called “war on coal.”
“You want to know why we lose the rural areas — makes no sense to them,” Manchin said. “Why are you punishing the people that have done the heavy lifting?”
Read more at Daily Caller
Remember Bill Clinton set aside thousands of acres of land into National Monuments Bill Clinton cut off all logging in Alaska to appease the Eco-Freaks then asked the sate to supply a whitehouse Christmas Tree the state rejected his request
With the hard left socialist and greens taking over the Democrat party Manchin is kryptonite . Older white guys just don’t cut it unless they are used as photo op props to smooth the message .
The Democrats could,nt care less about Rural America their way too busy doing the bidding of the Ecology Freaks and designatiing thousands of acres int Wilderness areas and rivers into Wild Rivers to appease the back to nature freaks We here in Scott Valley in Northern California lay between two Wilderness Areas The Marble Mountains and the Trinity Alps and the Eco-Wackos cant wait to drive our Farmers and Ranchers off the land so they can connect the two areas Never forget that Ted Turner is a big time Eco-Wacko who brainwashed kids with junk like Captain Planet and the Planeteers,Network Earth,One Child One Voice and National Geographic Explorer
Eco whacko’s resent farmers because of their huge footprint.
All that land!
Manchin is a rarity. Sad.
Why he is still a Democrat is beyond me.