Opinion
How to get West Virginia off coal
May 30, 2022
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(Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
Regarding the May 22 news article “In W.Va., pivot to clean energy rests with Joe Manchin”:
It is not just parochial interests that drive West Virginia’s stubborn adherence to coal and opposition to green power sources. Anyone who has ever been to deep Appalachia knows that there is more than a grain of truth to the shibboleth that the only things there are coal and disability.
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What is needed is a viable alternative to coal as the economic mainstay of the region — the only economic mainstay. The West Virginia legislature should have been working on this a decade ago, but, instead, it continues to fight the inevitable with its advocacy of “clean coal” and stubborn refusal to recognize the increasing obsolescence of fossil fuels. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) should be working on it today.
It is not an easy problem. Because of its rugged terrain and remoteness from major markets and transportation corridors, the area is not conducive to manufacturing or other industries involving the movement of goods. Nor is it conducive to large-scale farming. White-collar industries, such as any form of information or data processing, require an educated workforce, generally lacking in the region.
Until a large-scale replacement industry takes root, the people of deep Appalachia will continue out of desperation to oppose anything that diminishes the coal industry and will express that sentiment at the ballot box. These people, most of whom have lived there for generations, are not going to just quietly disappear as the coal industry dries up. Transitioning them must be part of any solution.
Paul B. Weiss, Hedgesville, W.Va.
Regarding the May 22 news article “In W.Va., pivot to clean energy rests with Joe Manchin”:
It is not just parochial interests that drive West Virginia’s stubborn adherence to coal and opposition to green power sources. Anyone who has ever been to deep Appalachia knows that there is more than a grain of truth to the shibboleth that the only things there are coal and disability.
Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
What is needed is a viable alternative to coal as the economic mainstay of the region — the only economic mainstay. The West Virginia legislature should have been working on this a decade ago, but, instead, it continues to fight the inevitable with its advocacy of “clean coal” and stubborn refusal to recognize the increasing obsolescence of fossil fuels. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) should be working on it today.
It is not an easy problem. Because of its rugged terrain and remoteness from major markets and transportation corridors, the area is not conducive to manufacturing or other industries involving the movement of goods. Nor is it conducive to large-scale farming. White-collar industries, such as any form of information or data processing, require an educated workforce, generally lacking in the region.
Until a large-scale replacement industry takes root, the people of deep Appalachia will continue out of desperation to oppose anything that diminishes the coal industry and will express that sentiment at the ballot box. These people, most of whom have lived there for generations, are not going to just quietly disappear as the coal industry dries up. Transitioning them must be part of any solution.
Paul B. Weiss, Hedgesville, W.Va.
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