Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called President Joe Biden’s suggestion that U.S. coal plants would shut down “outrageous and divorced from reality,” slamming his fellow Democrat three days before midterm elections where the party’s congressional majorities are at stake.
While Manchin didn’t specify which Biden comments he found offensive, his furious statement followed the president’s campaign speech in California on Friday that hailed the transition from coal energy to wind and solar as renewable technologies become more competitive. As burning coal become less economically viable, “we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America,” Biden said.
Manchin, whose state is the second-biggest U.S. coal producer, slammed the president’s comments as out of touch with rising energy prices and disrespectful to coal miners and workers.
“Being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting,” Manchin said Saturday. He called for a public apology by Biden and said it’s time “he learn a lesson that his words matter and have consequences.”
The United Mine Workers of America weighed in to defend the coal industry’s role in helping the energy transition and developing technology to reduce coal’s carbon footprint. UMWA President Cecil Roberts called Biden’s comments “disheartening” and invited the president to visit communities in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky that have been impacted by coal plants shutting down.
“It’s easy to talk about ending an industry that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in Appalachia and the Midwest, but the reality of such an action is harsh,” Roberts said in a statement.
Manchin, who isn’t up for reelection this year, is a rare Democrat who represents mostly conservative constituents. He emerged as a key vote in the evenly split Senate by helping pass Democratic-only projects such as the Inflation Reduction Act after blocking Biden’s initial Build Back Better tax-and-spending plan.
He has faced waves of criticism from parts of the party for holding up policy priorities and for refusing to end the filibuster, which requires a 60-vote majority to pass most bills.
On Saturday, his frustration with Biden prompted him to publicly question the president’s credibility.
“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden,” Manchin said in his statement. “It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day.”
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(With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.)
