It’s the same old Joe
Manchin fear-mongers while taking major “contributions” from the fossil fuel industry
You may be aware of the rightwing allegation making the rounds that the Biden administration is about to ban gas stoves nationwide. West Virginia’s senior senator, Joe Manchin, who certainly knows how to use such rumors to his advantage, was one of the first politicians to jump on it on:
This is a recipe for disaster. The federal . . .
Posted in: joe manchinnatural gas
Hey, West Virginia: what happened to all those coal jobs that Trump promised?
A number of news sources have recently examined Trump's 2016 promise to bring back coal jobs. For example, from Bloomberg:
Analysis: Trump made a promise to save coal in 2016. He couldn’t keep it
From The Guardian:
. . .‘My friends were lied to’: Will coal miners stand by Trump as jobs disappear?
It’s a good thing that the extraction industries no longer control West Virginia politics!
Riley Moore, the grandson of Arch Moore and nephew of Shelley Moore Capito will hold a fundraiser this week in Charleston and guess who's invited
From Phil Kabler’s “Statehouse Beat” in Sunday's Charleston Gazette-Mail:
State treasurer candidate Riley Moore is having a fundraiser in Charleston Feb. 13, with an interesting lineup of special guests, event chairs and committee members.
Most eye-catching is that Murray Energy PAC, the political arm of the bankrupt . . .
Posted in: murray energynatural gasriley moore
Is it unfair to say that the fossil fuel industry runs this state?
Your West Virginia legislature at work (or in the case of fracking, not at work)
Coal
From WV Metro News earlier this evening:
Senate Finance passes 3-year steam coal tax cut
Senator Doug Facemire (D – Braxton) stated the obvious:
“Are we helping the miners and the counties, or are we just going to stick this money the coal companies’ pockets?” Facemire asked.
The . . .
The Wheeling Intelligencer in August: “Special interests and powerful politicians seeking to influence us are wasting their time”
Yeah, right. Then why is it astroturfing us with a Koch-backed energy industry lobbyist pushing fossil fuel propaganda?
The quotation in today’s title is from an August Intelligencer editorial celebrating their anniversary. Unfortunately for its readership, their willingness to bow to special interests (especially in the fossil fuel industries) is once again borne out on its front page.
The morning paper’s headline read:
Report: Shale . . .
Posted in: astroturfintelligencer propagandanatural gas
Can Trump bring back coal jobs to West Virginia?
Looking around the Web for answers
Yesterday's Bloomberg News essentially sums up what I found in researching that question:
He can roll back regulations, slash government jobs, pull out of global treaties and strip the tax benefits from renewable energy. But can Donald Trump make coal great again?
. . .
Probably not, say energy industry leaders and analysts.
Posted in: donald trumpnatural gaswar on coal
The future of coal and West Virginia's response
A couple of important articles about the future of coal from scholarly and industry sources
Today's online edition of Forbes magazine carries a blog post by Steve Cicala from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Cicala explains his purpose:
I’d like to use this post to address a common . . .
