Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) does not buy Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s claims that he is the savior of the coal industry. “For Donald Trump to say that coal’s coming back, that’s a bunch of B.S.,” Manchin said Thursday at a technology showcase hosted by the Coal Utilization Research Council. Furthermore, Manchin said, “for people [saying] Hillary is going to wipe it out completely is just more B.S.”
Trump has said throughout his campaign that he will reopen the nation’s coal mines. He has provided little detail on how he would achieve this, beyond lifting restrictions on production. The billionaire real estate mogul’s energy plan, unveiled in May, centers on making the United States completely energy independent. Trump has noted several times that the United States has vast reserves of oil and gas that are currently off-limits due to moratoriums on drilling and mining on federal lands and executive actions forcing a shift away from fossil energy.
Under Trump’s plan, the federal government would scrap any regulation deemed “outdated, unnecessary, bad for workers or contrary to the national interests.” Moratoriums on energy production in federal areas, including drilling moratoriums in Alaska and presumably the current freeze on new coal leasing, would be lifted.
Clinton’s energy plan, in contrast, emphasizes renewable energy. She has stated that under her presidency the nation will install 500 million new solar panels. She pledged to build on the current administration’s climate action, including expanding regulations on coal-fired power plants and halting fossil fuel leasing on federal lands.
Clinton took a lot of flak for a comment she made during a March campaign stop in Ohio. The former secretary of state said her energy plan would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” In the backlash, the rest of her comment was largely forgotten: “We’re going to make it clear that we don’t want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories.”
Trump has latched onto the first part of Hillary’s comment, warning the fossil fuel industry that she will put it out of business. Those warnings are unfounded, Manchin said. “I know Bill and Hillary pretty well,” he said, adding “they’ll deal with the facts.”
Manchin reminded the audience that the president does not have absolute power. “We have a lot of checks and balances. We can stop somebody from doing something really, really crazy and stupid. We can stop that from happening. What we can’t stop is somebody saying something really, really stupid and crazy that causes unrest and upheaval in the world. We can’t prevent that. That’s what people have to understand,” he said.
If Trump is elected president, Manchin said, he is willing to work with him. “If Mr. Trump becomes president I’m going to do my job and try to make him the best darn president we’ve ever had. I’ll give him the greatest input I have and knowledge I have, and if I respectfully disagree, I will be respectful,” he said.