Since President Barack Obama rolled out his energy plan on Tuesday, there have been a substanial backlash from members of Congress who represent coal-producing states. New regulations that will be put in place through President Obama’s plan would result in the closing down on older coal plants, which many believe will weaken America’s energy grid, making it less reliable. Among the loudest voices against the plan is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who once made waves when he fired a bullet through President Obama’s cap-and-trade bill in a campaign ad. During an interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, Manchin said that Obama has declared a “war on jobs” and a “war on America” with his new energy plan. “How [Obama] forgot how this country’s gotten where its gotten to now — the coal that’s really produced the energy for this country for so long. It’s defended this country, it’s made the steel that built the guns and ships and factories, and all of a sudden disregarded like that when they’re still depending, Larry, they’ll be depending on coal through 2040,” Manchin told Kudlow. “That’s his own Energy Department, EIA’s estimates. That’s 35% of our energy. I don’t know where it’s gonna come from. It’s gonna drive the price up, unbelieveable, and on top of that, thousands and thousands of jobs.” “This is not just a war on coal, it’s a war on jobs, it’s a war on America,” he said. Manchin has said in other interviews that America does need to reduce its reliance on foreign sources energy sources. He told Fox News that coal serves that purpose and that trying to exclude an industry that produces more than one-third of America’s energy is like “shoot[ing] yourself in both feet and try[ing] to run a marathon tomorrow.” Watch the clip from CNBC below:
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 21:49:26 +0000
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