Analysis: What’s driving Manchin’s resistance to climate change legislation
It wouldn’t be the first time he’s committed violence on legislation to address climate change.
Years later, he’s a man specifically made for this moment. The Democrat representing a red state, he’s got complete power over legislation. The chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee only amplifies his importance on energy and climate issues.
The current proposal he killed would have paid utilities for moving more quickly away from fossil fuels. Manchin opposes moving more quickly away from fossil fuels since he says the US is already moving away from fossil fuels. He’s right. But it’s not happening fast enough.
Time is running out. Experts are convinced the window is closing for the US and other countries to address climate change, which is already wreaking havoc on the weather and supercharging natural disasters, before the effects are catastrophic.
I’ve been trying to see this from Manchin’s perspective. He’s like a politician from another time — when there were Democrats representing red states.
He’s sticking up for the energy source of another time — when coal was king.
He doesn’t see the need for the government to hasten the demise of coal since coal’s demise is here.
“The transition’s already happening,” Manchin told CNN, although he would not comment on a story about coal and West Virginia. “So I’m not going to sit back and let anyone accelerate whatever the market’s changes are doing.”
West Virginians are feeling the effects of climate change and the energy markets.
Read the New York Times’ recent report on floods and other disasters in West Virginia.
Coal is part of West Virginia’s entire identity. It’s beneath the ground in all but two West Virginia counties. It was discovered in the state in the 1700s, part of a great legacy of energy production. It’s still the No. 2 coal producer in the US, behind Wyoming.
But the US has transitioned away from coal and so too has West Virginia, although more slowly.
West Virginia — 12.6%
Pennsylvania — 6.8%
Illinois — 5.9%
North Dakota — 4.9%
Even in most states where coal is produced, its production has been dropping, including in West Virginia.
The number of people employed in the coal industry in Appalachia, which includes West Virginia, has dropped by half from about 60,000 in 2011 to less than 30,000 today.
Coal used to be the largest energy source in the US. Now it accounts for less than 20% of US electricity generation.
That’s a smaller portion of the US electricity market than either nuclear or renewable energy.
As coal has dwindled, natural gas has exploded. Back in 2008, nearly twice as much US electricity was generated by coal compared to natural gas. In 2020, natural gas generated more than twice the electricity of coal.
16% coal
39% nuclear
3% solar
3% biomass
2% hydro
smaller percentages of oil and wind
Others are casting about for an alternative to help the US meet its goal of cutting carbon-producing energy production in half by 2030.
It has the benefit of being the most direct way to cut carbon emissions, but the problem is no lawmaker likes to raise taxes. It’d be a difficult sell for any lawmaker, in particular Manchin.
West Virginia voters elected him to put a bullet in it.