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Clinton quote problematic for WV Dems

For the second time in a week, Hillary Clinton has taken a definitive stand against a leading sector of the energy economy that is critical to West Virginia and the rest of the country.

During a March 6 debate in Flint, Michigan, Clinton switched her position from previously supporting hydraulic fracturing to saying, “By the time we get through my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place.”

Then during a town hall meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday night Clinton made clear that coal would not be part of the country’s energy portfolio in her administration.  “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

Well, coal is already on a downward spiral because of market conditions and the regulatory stranglehold from the Obama administration. The Energy Information Administration says coal production has fallen to its lowest level in two decades, taking with it thousands of jobs and forcing dozens of coal companies out of business.

And now the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee wants to take down the rest.

Clinton supporters will point to her qualifying addendum about taking care of the miners she’s going to put out of work with her emphasis on alternative fuels.

“Those people (miners) labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories.  Now we’ve got to move away from coal and all other fossil fuels, but I don’t want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy which we relied on.”

Or in the parlance of the Vietnam era, we have to destroy the village to save it.

Clinton was never going to win West Virginia anyway, so from a national perspective the coal quote only helps solidify her support among progressives who are more concerned about climate change.  However, Clinton’s hardening anti-fossil fuel positions will again present problems for West Virginia Democrats.

An unpopular presidential candidate will suppress voter turnout for the party and again force Democratic candidates for Governor and Congress to parse their party bona fides; “I support the nominee, but I disagree with her positions on, blah, blah, blah.”

Republican political consultants can dust off  their ads from the last couple of cycles, insert Clinton’s picture for Obama’s alongside whatever Democrat is being targeted, apply the coal and fracking quotes, and voila!

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has already endorsed Clinton. He said during an appearance on Talkline last year that he thought she would be more pragmatic than Obama on coal.  “I absolutely do believe that it will be different,” Manchin said.

Fortunately for Manchin he’s not up for re-election this cycle, otherwise those words could come back to haunt him.

 

 

 

 





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