National Report from Washington–A monthly Series exclusive to LaborPress
In campaign 2020 and in governing, Democrats and Republicans alike appear to be making the same fatal mistake that Hillary Clinton made in 2016 on West Virginia coal. Unless both come up with major jobs proposals, both will lose labor votes, or many may stay home.
With the next Democratic debate coming fast on September 12, there has been a wave of support for the Green New Deal in both debates so far. That left many candidates falling short on dealing with coal jobs. Kamala Harris stated, “We must have and adopt a Green New Deal” without offering further solutions. Even Joe Biden, steeped in a lifetime of labor and working families’ values, said, “We will end any subsidies for coal or any other fossil fuels.”
Others likewise dumped on the coal industry without citing plans to employ people with alternative jobs. Climate-change leader Jay Inslee, now out but with a high reputation from his presidential campaign built off the issue with the most comprehensive climate plan including renewables, was among the lowest-polling candidates. His “The house is on fire” description of the planet’s pending death didn’t help any more than Jimmy Carter blaming “malaise” on the American people. On the other side, “I-have-a-plan” Elizabeth Warren says she “put a real policy on the table to create 1.2 million jobs in green manufacturing.” However, even with that, the public wonders how long until any manufacturing plant is built.
In the same breath as saying coal jobs will decline, Democrats must offer coal-replacement jobs, not just push for the Green New Deal, otherwise they risk losing West Virginia again.
In March 2016, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business”, costing her West Virginia and angering many. Clinton defended her comment saying it was taken out of context because, “the way things are going now, we will continue losing jobs… I didn’t mean to say that we will do it. I meant to say that is what will happen unless we take action to try and prevent it.” However, it was too little too late.
Reacting to Hillary, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said, “It surely wasn’t helpful. I don’t think she was thinking.” However, for Democrats to regain West Virginia votes — votes that Bill Clinton won in his ’92 and ’96 presidential races — they must look at the middle class and find compromise with “green jobs”.
In July 2019 the national unemployment rate was 3.7% while West Virginia was 4.8%. Three West Virginia counties exceeded those numbers with struggling communities at 7.6-9.5%.
Obama’s plan invested in a hopeful environmental future, but then Trump was elected promising to “bring coal back.” As a firm believer that “climate change” is minor with his administration directing the words be withdrawn from regulations, and as someone who states that the effects of coal are minor, he’s continued to roll back previous policy. The New York Times counts 83 rollbacks since he took office.
Fifty-three of 55 of the state’s counties profit from bituminous coal, the most common U.S. type with a high heating value used in electricity generation. While short-term bursts may occur, a long-term coal resurgence is unlikely. West Virginians know their mining jobs have already been replaced by machinery and explosives, with clean-energy jobs not replacing them quick enough.
In a 2019 Gallup poll, only 22% of Americans said there should be more emphasis on coal — 70% emphasized wind and 80% emphasized solar.
CBS featured video interview of Eric Ritchie, an O&M manager at Beech Ridge wind farm. He was “born and raised on a coal family.” When he transitioned to producing wind energy, he said that he heard all the “tree hugger comments” but now his old coal-working buddies are calling him for jobs. “It’s a job. It’s a future,” he said. Trump attempted to discredit wind turbines when he tweeted, “Not only are wind farms disgusting looking, but even worse they are bad for people’s health.”
Doyle Tenney, owner of DT Solar LLC, said to CBS, “I am not against coal. I am for the future.” As Tenney mentions Power Purchase Agreement’s House Bill 3072. It would allow residents to install solar panels and pay them off over time yet hasn’t been passed by the overall state legislature.
Although the decline of coal is sharp in West Virginia, they can still become a leader in greener practices. Democrats can win West Virginia when they help alter the business model to work for the environment with wind and solar energy, not against it; when jobs they urge are permanent, funded, and with a timeline. So can Republicans. The state is in play.
Likewise, Republicans– both the White House and Republican-controlled Senate — have failed, miserably, on infrastructure. They have spouted the term and had about five “infrastructure weeks” but never offered a bipartisan proposal to actually pay the $1-2 Trillion the country needs to catch up to Europe’s trains and planes and fix up our own bridges, tunnels, highways, grids, hospitals, schools, and internet. Nationwide, we are falling fast into a pothole of inferiority.
Jobs and Infrastructure right now are “a plague on both your houses.” Working families cannot live off tax breaks for the wealthy. Working men and women, and their families, have a right to complain to Congress and the White House and demand to “Get it done.”
Robert Weiner was a Clinton and Bush White House spokesperson, and for the House Government Operations Committee, Congressmen Ed Koch, Charles Rangel, John Conyers, and Claude Pepper. Kimberly Bartenfelder is Environmental Policy Analyst for Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change. Ben Lasky is Senior Policy Analyst at Solutions for Change.
