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You are here: Home / Climate Change / Coal Is Dead and Manchin is Chasing a Corpse

Coal Is Dead and Manchin is Chasing a Corpse

by John Cole|  November 4, 20216:05 pm| 87 Comments

This post is in: Climate Change

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Nice piece in CNN about the decline of coal and how humanity’s survival basically hinges on ending the use of fossil fuels, and this graphic was illuminating:

Coal Is Dead and Manchin is Chasing a Corpse

If coal use in America were a covid patient, it would have been on a ventilator the last ten years. It’s time to pull the plug, and everything Manchin does to delay it is just causing more pain for the people of West Virginia, who are going to stick to our old dead past and not get the training and infrastructure to move into future industries.

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Reader Interactions

87Comments

  1. 1.

    RaflW

    November 4, 2021 at 6:08 pm

    How perfect to discover that apparently Manchin rides around D.C. in a Maserati Levante suv.
    According to the sticker for his model, it contains 98% non-North American parts. It is assembled in Italy and Germany is the second leading parts contribution.

    Italy is lovely, but his vehicle choice doesn’t really help West Virginia miners* or other laborers/manufacturing. He’s just a run of the mill rich ahole, lookin out for number one. Dunno if the UAW or other labor unions contribute to him, but they should scorch him for this if they do.

    *TBF I don’t know if WVa mines coking coal for steelmaking.

  2. 2.

    JustRuss

    November 4, 2021 at 6:11 pm

    Manchin will be dead before coal will be, and that’s all that matters. If he gave a damn about West Virginians (the ones who aren’t millionaires I mean) he wouldn’t be stonewalling Build Back Better.

  3. 3.

    Joe Falco

    November 4, 2021 at 6:13 pm

    If Manchin was more like Robert Byrd, West Virginia could have all the money it needs to move on from coal in a negotiated deal, but sadly, that is not the case. Here in Georgia, we’re still waiting on the Vogtle Nuclear Plant to be finally completed after 10+ years and multiple delays while Georgia Power continues to bill its customers for it.

  4. 4.

    Burnspbesq

    November 4, 2021 at 6:15 pm

    And it wasn’t the EPA or mine safety regulators that killed it. Electric utilities found that burning coal was less profitable than alternatives—mostly natural gas, but also wind and solar.

    Everybody loves the invisible hand until they get fisted by it.

  5. 5.

    raven

    November 4, 2021 at 6:19 pm

    @Joe Falco: It went up $4 a month!

  6. 6.

    Baud

    November 4, 2021 at 6:20 pm

    The real tragedy is that Manchin had a real opportunity to help out coal workers.

  7. 7.

    Raoul Paste

    November 4, 2021 at 6:20 pm

    A yacht and a Maserati..

    The TV ad writes itself

  8. 8.

    Cermet

    November 4, 2021 at 6:20 pm

    As long as manchin is raking in the millions, he figures those West Virginians with black lung can just suck on lumps of coal. Besides him not giving a $hit about those poor people, he is a media darling and getting glamor shots in all the papers.

    As for nuclear, thanks to subs and other military nuke powered ships, the inexpensive and utterly safe fast neutron reactors that use molten salt (the uranium is a salt) where never really given a chance. these reactors can burn the hideously radioactive waste fuel from other reactors, extract energy and create low level waste. No need for million year storage and these plants cost a fraction of the current nuke plant costs to build. Stupid  that this new design (all of 1970’s!) was never given a chance but the military had their reactors and without their money, the big nuke companies wouldn’t build this new generation of reactors.

  9. 9.

    Mart

    November 4, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    Arguing about Obama killed coal a hundred years ago I calmly explained that $/BTU killed coal – after fracking lowered the cost of natural gas. Watched a lot of sites convert boilers and bring in high pressure gas lines. All kinds of heavy metals and nasty liquid chemicals when burning coal. Plus all the transportation, crushing, limestone slurry, scrubbers, and hazardous waste disposal. Still, I would not be surprised to see them switch back to coal if gas spikes. Saw them flip flop fuels way back when.

    What Burnspberg said.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    November 4, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    @Raoul Paste:

    “I am Senator Joe Manchin. I own a Maserati and a yacht.”

  11. 11.

    Don K

    November 4, 2021 at 6:26 pm

    @Burnspbesq:

    Hell. steamships converted from coal to oil eons ago. Railroads dumped steam locomotives all in a rush between the end of WWII and 1960. Homeowners went from coal heating to oil or gas. Coal has been on life support for quite a while now.

  12. 12.

    Cermet

    November 4, 2021 at 6:26 pm

    @Mart: Very expensive to ‘flip’ back to coal. It is likely that it will take a big spike to do that – considering natural gas fracking is only just getting a start in many parts of the world, natural gas supplies will be plentiful for a while yet – we have facilities to import it cheaply as well (currently used to export it.) So prices aren’t likely to get high all that fast.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 4, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    @Baud: Not having an American made car around just for appearances is so tone deaf.  The houseboat/yacht never really bothered me, but this is simple political malpractice.

  14. 14.

    Burnspbesq

    November 4, 2021 at 6:30 pm

    OT: DOJ has sued Texas over its new restrictions on voting.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 4, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    @Burnspbesq: Good.

  16. 16.

    Burnspbesq

    November 4, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    Link

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    November 4, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    @Burnspbesq: Long URLs can break the margins on phones, so I tucked your URL under the word Link.

  18. 18.

    japa21

    November 4, 2021 at 6:38 pm

    OT. Has anyone heard how OH is doing?

  19. 19.

    Almost Retired

    November 4, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    @Baud: That’s why Manchin opposes the miwwionaire tax.

  20. 20.

    dr. bloor

    November 4, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    everything Manchin does to delay it is just causing more pain for the people of West Virginia,

    Senator Manchin would like to know what, precisely, your point is here.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    November 4, 2021 at 6:45 pm

    @japa21: Nothing from Ozark since 9:10 am yesterday when he said he had to go to his pre-op thing. (technical term)

  22. 22.

    debbie

    November 4, 2021 at 6:46 pm

    @japa21:

    What happened?

  23. 23.

    kindness

    November 4, 2021 at 6:49 pm

    Come on John.  Look at the income Manchin gets from coal every year.

    He’s just a typical pig only thinking of himself and maybe his kids too.

  24. 24.

    japa21

    November 4, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    @debbie: He had surgery yesterday.

  25. 25.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 4, 2021 at 6:51 pm

    @Burnspbesq: Do something Twitter will find something to kvetch about.

    Garland is not doing xyz. I want Sally Yates. *stomps foot*

    *Writes a long Twitter thread

  26. 26.

    Redshift

    November 4, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    While I don’t disagree that the people of WVa are getting screwed by Manchin’s antics (along with all the rest of us), I suspect his “I love coal” act is less IGMFY to his constituents and more that way too many people will turn on a politician who tries to improve their lives in a way that will require them to change, and embrace one who gives them lies about how they don’t have to and scapegoats to blame instead.

    I’m really feeling that after the latest election results. “Everything sucked during the pandemic, so let’s turn on the people who handled the inevitable pain competently and vote in the people who said our kids would have been in fine being in school and we shouldn’t have to care at all about how our actions affect anyone else!”

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    November 4, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    Washington Post Headlines:

    Kyle Rittenhouse juror dismissed for joke about police shooting of Jacob Blake

    Justice Dept. sues to stop Texas’s voting restrictions

    House eyes vote on spending plan as soon as today, as moderates question costs (at least they didn’t say “breaking news!”)

    Analyst who was key to Steele dossier arrested as part of special counsel John Durham’s probe into FBI’s 2016 Russia investigation  (john Durham has drowned his own reputation in the toilet)

    Manhattan district attorney convenes new grand jury in Trump Organization case to weigh potential charges

    GOP ramps up challenges of Biden vaccine mandate (no surprise there!)

    Biden rejects paying $450,000 to migrant families separated at the border during Trump administration

    Earth’s lakes are warming at a feverish pace, with the Great Lakes leading the wa

    World doesn’t spend enough preparing for disasters, U.N. report says  (no surprise there

    Manchin has no more excuses. It’s time to fix the filibuster. (Jen Rubin)

  28. 28.

    raven

    November 4, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    @japa21: Nasty ass shoulder surgery that has a pretty long recovery.

  29. 29.

    japa21

    November 4, 2021 at 6:57 pm

    @raven: I think this is third or fourth surgery on that same shoulder, each one worse than the one before. I’ve had to deal with one, and that was bad enough.  Just a little worried because he had hoped to connect here sometime today.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    November 4, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    @japa21:

    Thanks.  ?

  31. 31.

    Hoodie

    November 4, 2021 at 7:01 pm

    @Mart: Once you shift away from coal, it tends to stay gone because a coal plant is a huge investment, much bigger than a gas turbine plant.  The only flip would be extending the lifetime of existing coal plants, which is what they’re considering for Four Corners.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    November 4, 2021 at 7:02 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Huh. A day or two ago, the nutjobs were bonkers because the administration planned to make payments to the families.

  33. 33.

    Burnspbesq

    November 4, 2021 at 7:03 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Nothing about the amazing racial makeup of the jury in the Ahmad Arbery case (defense used eight peremptory challenges to get rid of potential African-American jurors, ending up with eleven out of twelve white jurors), and the trial judge’s refusal to do anything about it?

  34. 34.

    Dan B

    November 4, 2021 at 7:04 pm

    @RaflW: Coking steel is also about to decline since the Swedes have developed and are beginning to commercialize a renewable hydrogen system for steel.  There are other players as well.  Volvo and Mercedes are transitioning to this steel in a few years.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 4, 2021 at 7:05 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Washington Post Headlines:

    Earth’s lakes are warming at a feverish pace, with the Great Lakes leading the way

    Great! And I see that Superior is doing a superior job of turning into a giant hot tub!

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    November 4, 2021 at 7:07 pm

    @debbie: The article itself is filled with conflicting information.  Some say that Biden just hasn’t been briefed on the numbers.  Then there’s the fussing about whether the DOJ is truly independent if Biden is making comments like that about what the DOJ has chosen to do.  More discussion that Biden ran on how awful Trump was to separate families so why is he turning his back on the families now.  I skimmed the whole article and i have no idea what’s true.  Success!

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    November 4, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    I don’t have much faith in China doing the right thing until really, really late but fucking Australia has no fucking excuse to keep the shovels running 24/7-365 plus opening up a huge new field, because profits!

    You can fucking well find something fucking else for those fucking coal workers to do, Bruce!

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    November 4, 2021 at 7:08 pm

    @Burnspbesq: I did not see anything on that. I hadn’t heard that, but it’s awful.

  39. 39.

    Frank Wilhoit

    November 4, 2021 at 7:10 pm

    Training isn’t going to happen unless it is fully Federally funded, not just in the first year but ongoing.  This is because training is an operational expense.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    November 4, 2021 at 7:12 pm

    @Burnspbesq:

    I recall that’s unconstitutional, but I can’t remember what the remedy is for the prosecutor.

  41. 41.

    Jeffro

    November 4, 2021 at 7:17 pm

    I think I saw something about how Macy’s has 2-3x more workers than the entire coal industry at this point.  I haven’t blasted it far and wide because I haven’t looked into it yet, but if it’s even close…have at it, (non-Manchin) Dems!

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    November 4, 2021 at 7:20 pm

    @Jeffro:

    TBF you can still get black lung working in the Goth Clothing Department.

  43. 43.

    randy khan

    November 4, 2021 at 7:24 pm

    The right side of that chart is, uh, interesting – after decades of steady declines independent of what has happened to energy prices generally, it predicts that use of coal will go up 15 to 20 percent THIS YEAR, with the decline resuming in 2022.

  44. 44.

    debbie

    November 4, 2021 at 7:26 pm

    @Baud:

    Didn’t the judge basically hand them a free retrial ticket?

  45. 45.

    senyordave

    November 4, 2021 at 7:26 pm

    @Baud: Missing word, I am Joe Manchin, millionaire.  I own a mansion and a yacht.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7dCTwlAI8Y

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    @Burnspbesq: This would appear to be part of the problem:

    https://www.wjcl.com/article/ahmaud-arbery-jury/38109914

    (CNN) — It’s been nearly two weeks since jury selection began in the trial of the three men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery, and of the thousand people summoned for jury duty, less than half have turned up.

    Of the first batch of 600 people summoned when jury selection began on October 18, only 283 actually came, according to Ron Adams, the Clerk of Superior Court for Glynn County. Another 400 were summoned on Monday, but only about half that number appeared in person. No official reason has been given for the low turnout.

    Prospective jurors are nervous

    The prospective jurors are all worried about different issues surrounding the case — especially how polarizing it has been in the community.

    A defense attorney also raised concerns Thursday that some candidates were potentially being less than honest in their answers or were sympathetic toward Arbery. But, the judge overruled those objections and the potential jurors were allowed to remain for consideration.

    Earlier, one woman said she didn’t know much about the case itself, except seeing Facebook headlines and “I run with Ahmaud” bumper stickers across town.

    Another potential juror, a man, said in his opinion Arbery was murdered. “But, I mean, based on the video, Ahmaud was unarmed and the other two were not. It’s kind of hard to show it’s self-defense there,” he told prosecutors.

    The intense publicity surrounding the case is making it hard for the court to find fair and impartial jurors. And many prospective jurors are also nervous.

    “I think it would be naive to think there couldn’t be real-world repercussions,” the female juror said about the trial.

  47. 47.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 7:32 pm

    There are only approximately 11,000 or so coal jobs left in West Virginia. If Manchin were really transactional then he would’ve been holding out for money to keep the people doing those jobs afloat and paying their bills, for retraining them, and giving them priority for hiring for whatever they’re being retrained for in exchange for supporting the reconciliation bill in general and the environmental portions in specific. Similarly, he would have been holding out for money to cover transitioning businesses like his son’s coal brokerage to brokering new, environmentally friendly green energy. You’ll notice he did neither.

  48. 48.

    dr. bloor

    November 4, 2021 at 7:38 pm

    No official reason has been given for the low turnout.

    Unless GA is completely and utterly different from every jurisdiction I’ve ever lived in (entirely possible), the low show rate itself likely has nothing to do with the case, since you’re simply summoned to be in the jury pool for a few days without any foreknowledge of what case you’ll be examined for.

    I’d make a snarky comment about how Georgia’s citizens seem to take their civic responsibilities somewhat less than seriously, although I can’t convince myself the turnout rate is significantly better anywhere else.

  49. 49.

    dr. bloor

    November 4, 2021 at 7:43 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: ​
     

    The really surprising thing is that Biden hasn’t taken the initiative to do this himself. Subsidizing 11K families for a three to five year period with a stipend until the Breadwinner is trained to keep windmills running instead of contracting black lung is a rounding error in the federal budget.

  50. 50.

    Butter Emails

    November 4, 2021 at 7:43 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m going to guess that most of the people still employed in the coal industry want to keep working in the coal industry and aren’t particularly interested in hand-outs and job retraining at this point. Not necessarily because they enjoy working in the coal industry, but because that’s what they do. They don’t want government handouts and they don’t want to be retrained just because some libtard enviroweenies in Congress and California hate coal.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 7:46 pm

    @dr. bloor: I would not be surprised that Biden pitched it to Manchin and got nowhere with it. Notice that both of them have been very, very tight lipped about what they discuss.

    I’d go so far as to say it should be put in to cover all remaining working in coal regardless of state. We’re probably not talking more than 30,000 or 40,000 people total. They should make a big deal out of it. Make McConnell have to defend why he opposes it given that the largest batch of those working in coal outside of WVA is in KY.

    But until someone reports something about it, we won’t know if it was ever brought up.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 7:47 pm

    @dr. bloor: The CNN reporting that is pulled from by one of the local news stations seems to imply that a lot of people in the area are scared of what will happen to them if they’re on the jury and the case goes against the defendants.

  53. 53.

    gene108

    November 4, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    Hi John Cole,

    This question is kind of pointless, because I doubt you’ll read it, but how does Sen. Manchin stack up against Sen. Capito for getting things done for your state?

    Just curious what the differences are between Senators in states with a split delegation in the Senate.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    @Butter Emails: It wouldn’t surprise me. Frankly, we could just buy all of them out. If there’s 11,000 in WVA, just budget to pay each $100,000 early retirement one time, tax free payout to retire. If they take the payout, they can’t work in coal anymore. That would do it and it would be a rounding error in the bill. If you throw in the couple of thousand still working in coal in PA, and however many in KY and the couple of other states, it’s still a budgetary rounding error.

  55. 55.

    gene108

    November 4, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @randy khan:

    it predicts that use of coal will go up 15 to 20 percent THIS YEAR, with the decline resuming in 2022.

    I believe China is bringing a lot of coal plants online in the near future.

  56. 56.

    sab

    November 4, 2021 at 7:55 pm

    @RaflW: What the fuck. He is just a senator. Only billiomaires and neurosurgeons drive those things. Nobody else has a sufficiently inflated ego to even gas the thing up.

  57. 57.

    Peale

    November 4, 2021 at 7:55 pm

    How about we give California 2 years to complete its high speed rail and if it doesn’t it will be forced to have WV coal fueled choo choo trains run on it? Can put it into the BBB better bill.

  58. 58.

    Peale

    November 4, 2021 at 7:57 pm

    @RaflW: His political ideology is stuck in the 1990s and his car indicates he’s still stuck in the midlife crisis he started having then, too.

  59. 59.

    Another Scott

    November 4, 2021 at 8:00 pm

    I don’t see it mentioned here, but this seems to me to be a big deal from COP 26 today.

    EXTERNAL PRESS RELEASE / 04 NOV, 2021

    End of Coal in Sight at COP26

    Press release issued on behalf of the UK COP26 Presidency and the COP25 and COP26 High-Level Climate Champions

    At least 23 countries have made new commitments today to phase out coal power, including five of the world’s top 20 coal power-using countries

    Major international banks commit to effectively end all international public financing of new unabated coal power by the end of 2021

    At least 25 countries and public finance institutions commit to ending international public support for the unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022

    Boost comes as overall a 190-strong coalition agrees to phase out coal power and end support for new coal power plants thanks to a package of support from the UK and international partners
    Coal is being consigned to history today at COP26, as countries, banks and organisations move away from the single biggest contributor to climate change.

    A just transition to clean energy and the rapid phase-out of coal has been at the heart of the COP26 Presidency as part of its efforts to minimise temperature rises in line with the Paris Agreement. The breadth of commitments in Glasgow today at Energy Day signal the world is moving towards a renewable future.

    At least 23 nations made new commitments to phase out coal power, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland, South Korea, Egypt, Spain, Nepal, Singapore, Chile and Ukraine. In a new ‘Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement’, countries also committed to scaling up clean power and ensuring a just transition away from coal.

    Today’s announcements follow a collapse in the financing of coal, as developed nations have pledged new support to help developing countries make the transition to clean energy.

    Banks and financial institutions also made landmark commitments at COP26 today to end the funding of unabated coal, including major international lenders like HSBC, Fidelity International and Ethos.

    This follows recent announcements from China, Japan and South Korea to end overseas coal financing which now means all significant public international financing for coal power has effectively ended.

    In addition, a group of 25 countries including COP26 partners Italy, Canada, the United States and Denmark together with public finance institutions have signed a UK-led joint statement committing to ending international public support for the unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022 and instead prioritising support for the clean energy transition.

    Collectively, this could shift an estimated $17.8bn a year in public support out of fossil fuels and into the clean energy transition. Developing countries including Ethiopia, Fiji and the Marshall Islands offered their support, signalling growing unity. This is an inclusive agenda that must recognise the development and energy needs of all economies.

    This is a historic step. It is the first time a COP presidency has prioritised this issue and put a bold end date on international fossil fuel finance. COP26 has set a new gold standard on the Paris Alignment of international public finance and sends a clear signal for private investors to follow.

    Today, 28 new members also signed up to the world’s largest alliance on phasing out coal. The Powering Past Coal Alliance, launched and co-chaired by the UK and Canada. New members include Chile and Singapore, joining more than 160 countries, sub-nationals and businesses.

    And 20 new countries, including Vietnam, Morocco and Poland committed to building no new coal plants, matching similar announcements over the past year by Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines, and building on the No New Coal Power Compact launched in September by Sri Lanka, Chile, Montenegro and European partners.

    There has been a 76% drop in the number of new coal plants planned globally over the last six years since the Paris Agreement was adopted. This equates to the cancellation of more than 1000GW of new coal plants.

    In separate announcements, major emerging economies today took significant steps to move from coal to clean power. India, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa announced partnerships with the Climate Investment Funds to accelerate their transitions away from coal power, backed by a dedicated $2bn facility. Indonesia and the Philippines announced pioneering partnerships with the Asian Development Bank to support the early retirement of coal plants.

    These followed the ground-breaking $8.5bn deal to support South Africa’s just transition to clean energy announced at the World Leaders Summit on Tuesday.

    COP26 President, Alok Sharma said:

    “From the start of the UK’s Presidency, we have been clear that COP26 must be the COP that consigns coal to history. With these ambitious commitments we are seeing today, the end of coal power is now within sight.

    “Securing a 190-strong coalition to phase out coal power and end support for new coal power plants and the Just Transition Declaration signed today, show a real international commitment to not leave any nation behind.

    “Together we can accelerate access to electricity for more than three quarters of a billion people who currently lack access, consigning energy poverty to history as we create the clean power future needed to keep 1.5 alive.”

    Gonzalo Muñoz and Nigel Topping, High Level Climate Action Champions said:

    “With 80% growth in their capacity commitment—from 25 to 45 gigawatts of electrolysis—in one year, the Green Hydrogen Catapult and its members demonstrate the near-term potential for exponential growth in green hydrogen, enabled by local and global policy support and rapidly growing customer interest.

    “It is fantastic to see the ambition in renewables deployment, with Race to Zero members committing to reaching over 750GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030. This will only grow as more energy companies join the Race to Zero emissions, and decarbonisation ambitions continue to increase, reflecting the exponential progress we have seen to date in the sector.”

    Other announcements on Energy Day included:

    A strategic partnership between the Energy Transition Council and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). The GEAPP, announced on 2 November with $10bn funding from philanthropies and development banks, aims to deliver clean, renewable energy to 1 billion people in developing and emerging economies and create 150 million green jobs by 2030. The partnership will include up to £25 million from GEAPP to support the Energy Transition Council’s Rapid Response Facility.

    Fourteen countries including India, Indonesia, Japan and Nigeria committed to the largest ever increase in product efficiency by signing up to a global goal of doubling the efficiency of lighting, cooling, motors and refrigeration by 2030 with support from the Climate Group’s EP100 initiative of 129 businesses.

    The launch of the Africa and Latin America Green Hydrogen Alliances with membership from six African countries and five Latin American countries. They aim to kickstart development of millions of metric tons of production of reliably near-zero-carbon green hydrogen to be used in domestic and international industries worldwide.

    My fuzzy recollection from school is that the US has the world’s largest coal reserves, enough to supply (the then annual consumption) for around 1000 years (far longer than the world’s proven oil reserves). Of course, the planet would be uninhabitable if we burned even a large fraction of it… :-/

    It’s good that statements and commitments are getting closer to the needed reality. Now, we need to make sure those commitments (and more!) are kept.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  60. 60.

    Cameron

    November 4, 2021 at 8:06 pm

    @Baud: “I am Senator Joe Manchin.  Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    November 4, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    @RaflW: Made me look.

    It looks like they go for as little as $77k. One can spend more than that on an F-150, if one tries hard enough.

    It looks like the Levante was originally promoted to be Jeep-based and made in Detroit, but ended up being based on the old Chrysler 300 chassis instead (with a “Maserati” motor and drivetrain).

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Who saw Pete Rose driving a Ferrari 512BB (IIRC) in Cincinnati once. Bouncing like mad over the potholes…”)

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 4, 2021 at 8:19 pm

    @Another Scott:

    It looks like they go for as little as $77k. One can spend more than that on an F-150, if one tries hard enough.

    I’ve been looking at the F150, because of the Lighting, you don’t have to try that hard….

  63. 63.

    WV Blondie

    November 4, 2021 at 8:21 pm

    @Jeffro: And Macy’s has a major fulfillment center in … WV! It runs 24/7 – I talked to a woman waiting at DMV at 7:30 one morning last week. She got off her shift at 3:30 a m.

  64. 64.

    Cameron

    November 4, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: This is one of the best ideas I’ve heard in a while.

  65. 65.

    BruceJ

    November 4, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Employment in the coal industry has declined steadily since 1923

  66. 66.

    Ksmiami

    November 4, 2021 at 8:32 pm

     

    @sab: not to be a snob but he’s pretty provincial as far as millionaires go…

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    @Cameron: Thank you.

    It’ll never happen because it is simple and makes sense. Hell we could throw in ACA health care plans including vision and dental for them and it would be a rounding error in the budget.

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 4, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    @BruceJ: So I’ve heard.

  69. 69.

    John Cole

    November 4, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    @gene108:  He defends social security and medicare most of the time and gives us (sort of) control of the Senate. Other than that…

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    November 4, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    @BruceJ: I was looking up Presidential electoral votes and saw that West Virginia had six Congressional districts as recently as 1960. They will have only three after next year.

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    November 4, 2021 at 8:55 pm

    @John Cole: Manchin also voted for the $1.9 trillion American Recovery Act, and voted to convict trump twice. And he’s helped to confirm Biden’s judges. The best thing Manchin has done was to vote to make Schumer Majority Leader.

    But he sure has been devious on this BBB bill. And I still don’t know if he’ll vote for it.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 4, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    @Geminid: All of this is why I can’t join in the wholesale condemnation of him.

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    November 4, 2021 at 9:02 pm

    @Geminid:

    Horse’s mouth:

    President Biden's framework is the product of months of negotiations and input from all members of the Democratic Party who share a common goal to deliver for the American people.

    — Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) October 28, 2021

    As we work through the text of the legislation I would hope all of us will continue to deal in good faith and do what is right for the future of the American people.

    — Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) October 28, 2021

    He’s getting as much as he can for his views while he can. He’s not going to kill it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 4, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    @Another Scott: I think you are right, but that and $2.79 gets you a gallon of milk.

  75. 75.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 4, 2021 at 9:06 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I keep agreeing with you, and each time I die a little bit inside….

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 4, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Good and good.

  77. 77.

    Renie

    November 4, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    Late to the thread but if John is still around I’m wondering how the WV media is handling what Machin has been doing?

  78. 78.

    Another Scott

    November 4, 2021 at 9:20 pm

    Relatedly, kinda, … ProPublica:

    Gov. Jim Justice is believed to be the richest person in West Virginia, controlling vast reserves of valuable steelmaking coal and owning The Greenbrier luxury resort. He made an appearance in 2014 on the Forbes list of 400 wealthiest Americans. Estimates of his net worth have ranged from the hundreds of millions to well over a billion.

    Nonetheless, he’s paid little or no federal income taxes for almost every year between 2000 and 2018, ProPublica’s trove of tax records shows. In 12 of those years he paid nothing, and in all but two of those years, his rate didn’t exceed 4%.

    His largest tax payment came in 2009, when his family sold off much of its mining holdings to a Russian company for more than half a billion dollars. That year, after deductions, his tax rate rose to a modest 13.4%.

    In more recent years, Justice, 70, has reported tens of millions in losses each year. That not only helped him to minimize his federal income taxes, it also allowed him to apply those losses to his profits from previous years — and get refunds for the taxes he initially paid in those years.

    Justice’s income was low enough in 2018 for his family to qualify for and receive a $2,400 coronavirus stimulus check, aid meant for low- and middle-income Americans.

    […]

    Justice should get on board with the BBB, also too. But he probably won’t as long as he can claim such valuable paper losses against his income taxes…

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  79. 79.

    superdestroyer

    November 4, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    There is no reason to build new industrial facilities in West Virginia as compared to other states.  And if one is going to work from home, why live in West Virginia?

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    November 4, 2021 at 10:49 pm

    @japa21:

     

    ????????

  81. 81.

    WV Blondie

    November 4, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    @Geminid: Actually, we’ll only have two congressional districts next year – thank God. My “representative” (HAH!), Alex Mooney (a/k/a “ALEC Money”), will be going against John Cole’s representative, David McKinley – much of their two districts have been mashed together. Of the two, if I have to be represented by a Republican, McKinley is much superior. (Though I’m clearly grading on a curve.)

  82. 82.

    chopper

    November 4, 2021 at 10:52 pm

    why is the forecast in the figure showing a bounce up in coal?

  83. 83.

    Burnspbesq

    November 4, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    @sab: 

    Nobody else has a sufficiently inflated ego to even gas the thing up.

    You’d be surprised how much pathology is embedded in people’s vehicle choices. How else to explain things like F-350 Super Duty and Tesla Model S Plaid?

  84. 84.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    November 4, 2021 at 11:49 pm

    @Burnspbesq:

    Everybody loves the invisible hand until they get fisted by it.

    I have never loved the invisible hand. I’ve never even seen it!

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    November 5, 2021 at 1:03 am

    Pretty soon – sausage!

    TheHill:

    The House Rules Committee met late Thursday night to advance the final text of the social spending legislation.

    Next, according to Democratic sources familiar with the plan, the House will convene at 8 a.m. Friday to debate and vote on the package, titled the Build Back Better Act. A vote to clear the bipartisan infrastructure bill — which has stalled in the House since its Senate passage in August due to progressive resistance — will follow.

    The House already completed floor debate on the bipartisan infrastructure bill in late September, when Democratic leaders had first hoped to clinch a deal on the two measures.

    It won’t be long.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    dopey-o

    November 5, 2021 at 2:50 am

    why is the forecast in the figure showing a bounce up in [email protected]:

    i think the CNN article discussed recent spikes in the price of natural gas. Coal will be a cheaper alternative until increased fracking pumps more gas into the equation.

    The CNN article is a long read, informative and exhaustive. Covers the role of China and South Pacific nations, among others. Excellent graphics.

    TL;DR summary: Abandon hope.

  87. 87.

    R. Beck

    November 14, 2021 at 3:13 am

    @RaflW: i think the business hes in actually goes through waste coal wth recently developed technology that enables them to extract dirty coal which is usable, barely, but highly polluting

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