The Achilles Heel of Biden’s Climate Plan? Miners.


All this increased the risks of wooing coal miners.

“Our guiding principle is the belief that we don’t have to choose between good jobs and a clean environment,” said Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, which unites labor and environmental groups to provide support for initiatives like Mr. Biden’s. “But whether we can continue to express that belief with a straight face depends on the policy choices we make.”

“Coal miners,” he added, “are at the center of it.”

It’s impossible to explain Mr. Biden’s jaundiced views on his agenda without appreciating the growing economic vulnerabilities of miners: Unlike carpenters and electricians who work at power stations but can apply their skills to renewable energy projects, many miners are unlikely to find employment. in wind and solar farms similar to their current work. (Some have more transferable skills, such as equipment operators.)

It’s hard to overstate the political playfulness that has shaped the discourse about miners. Hillary Clinton suggested spending in the 2016 presidential campaign 30 billion dollars about economic aid for coal country. But when discussing his proposal in a town hall, a verbal misstatement that “We’re going to put many coal miners and coal companies out of business” let dissenters. to portray it It’s like waging a “war on coal”.

“It’s a politicized situation where a political party, increasingly taken over by industry, takes advantage of the status quo by perpetuating that rhetoric,” said Matto Mildenberger, a political scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. studies climate policy.

And then there’s Mr Manchin, a complex political figure among members of the Senate. leading buyers Campaign money from the fossil fuel industry.

Mr. Manchin has sometimes resisted provisions favored by the miners’ union, such as substitution payments to coal workers who must accept a lower-paying job. “At the end of the day, it wasn’t something he wanted to do,” said Mr Smith, the union’s lobbyist. A spokesperson for Mr. Manchin declined to comment.

In other ways though, Mr. Manchin channeled the emotions of his constituents well, suggesting that he might have been more enthusiastic about renewable energy legislation if he had.



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