During a speech in Carlsbad, California, on Friday, President Joe Biden gleefully touted a coming end to the coal industry in favor of energy produced by wind and solar. Biden’s remarks brought an angry response from at least one Democratic senator.
During the lead-up to the 2020 election, Biden guaranteed a young climate activist that he would work to end fossil fuels. Perhaps in his speech he was simply touting his progress toward achieving that lofty goal.
“No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it,” Biden told a campaign rally. “Even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant.”
Biden predicted that unreliable “renewable” sources such as wind and solar would soon become the norm for plants that produce energy.
“So it’s going to become a wind generation,” the president predicted. “And all they’re doing is, it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money, and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on. We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America, and having wind and solar.”
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a state heavily invested in the coal industry, bristled at Biden’s remarks.
Manchin held a great deal of power at one time, as possibly the sole Democratic vote standing between Biden and his radical climate-change agenda. Unfortunately, Manchin eventually caved in to pressure brought by his fellow Democrats and signed on to mammoth legislation that became known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
However, he did blast Biden’s “end of coal” remarks in a statement.
“President Biden’s comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs,” Manchin wrote. “Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes [sic] he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure.”
“It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day,” Manchin jabbed. “Politicizing our nation’s energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people.”
Manchin also said that Biden now owes an apology to the nation’s thousands of coal 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. “The president owes these incredible workers an immediate and public apology, and it is time he learns a lesson that his words matter and have consequences.”
Predictably, Republicans also jumped on Biden’s remarks.
“We know how this ends,” Representative Steve Scalise (R-La.) said. “People lose their livelihoods. You pay more for energy.”
The rancor surrounding Biden’s remark — which really shouldn’t surprise anyone, given his previous statements on the issue — sparked a swift White House response, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre releasing a statement on Saturday claiming, basically, that the president didn’t actually mean what came out of his mouth.
“The President’s remarks yesterday have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense. The President was commenting on a fact of economics and technology: as it has been from its earliest days as an energy superpower, America is once again in the midst of an energy transition,” the press secretary said.
Perhaps, that’s what he meant, but what Mr. Biden said was: “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America, and having wind and solar.”
Manchin was right about one thing: Biden’s message completely changes depending on the crowd he’s speaking to, and to a California crowd, he gleefully touted an end to the coal industry. But Manchin probably shouldn’t talk — it was the West Virginia Democrat’s capitulation that has enabled many of the policies that Biden is bragging about.
