Breaking news from Washington, with word that West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan plans to vote against the big climate change bill. Here’s his statement:
Mollohan to Vote Against Climate Change Bill
           WASHINGTON – Congressman Alan B. Mollohan announced today that he will vote against HR 2454, the Waxman-Markey climate change bill scheduled for debate tomorrow.
           “As currently drafted, this legislation is not in the best interests of my constituents, and it’s not in the best interests of West Virginia,†Mollohan said. “For the past several weeks, I have joined the electric utility industry, the coal industry, the United Mine Workers of America, and other coal state Representatives on negotiations to improve the legislation. We have made significant progress on a number of fronts that together would hold down the cost of electricity to residential and industrial consumers, that would help level the playing field for our steel and manufacturing industries that face international competition, and that would enable the electric power industry to continue to burn West Virginia coal. As a result of our efforts, the bill is much improved from the original draft, but it still falls short in several key areas, and I cannot support it.â€Â
Updated:
Rahall has also issued a statement opposing the bill —
While this bill is greatly improved from the discussion draft that was first circulated in March of this year – and opponents were saying no even before that draft was written – more improvements are needed to gain my support.
Coal does much more than keep the lights on in big cities across America. In southern West Virginia, it covers the mortgage, puts food on the family dinner table, and keeps open the doors of small businesses. While the emissions target in the early years of this program has been lowered from the 20% cap initially contained in this bill, there remains widespread concern that even the reduced cap — 17% in 2020 — is still too high and too soon to incentivize rapid development and deployment of carbon capture and sequestration
technologies, so as to ensure coal mining jobs for the future.  We must
allow time for expensive clean coal technologies to come on line.These technologies are critical to lowering emissions across multiple sectors of our economy. And they are necessary for keeping hardworking coal miners in the jobs they want, providing power for the country they
love.  Â
Subscribe to the Coal Tattoo
Big disappointment, but I guess not surprising.
I think Joe Romm at Climate Progress was estimating/predicting a 20% national coal use reduction over the next 10 years under the current Waxman-Markey draft, with gas and oil prices being unpredictable variables that could affect that figure some. That’s a lot of coal jobs.
Nationally, support for climate policy/clean energy is widespread, but relatively shallow. Whereas, support for coal use is not widespread, but is deep where it exists — including WV.
Widespread and diffuse benefits, localized and specific costs — this equation often results in inaction.
Many years ago, a friend of mine in Washington DC told me that about fifteen or so congressional districts were then the key factors in stopping the adoption of policies that, in retrospect, would have saved us and our descendants generations of horrible problems due to global warming.
Ya think WV has three of those districts? I’d say so.
Well, lots more to come . . . I’ll watch the House vote with hope and interest, even if not with pride . . . I feel for our kids and grandkids . . . they are going to be so mad at us and rightfully so, if we screw this up any more . . .
Well I have worked my butt off to elect a Democrat here in the 2nd Congressional District.
But if Dems are gonna roll over and vote with Rep’s, what’s the use?
We need to find some progressive Democrats to run against these DINOS who care for nothing except their endorsement and campaign contributions from BIG COAL. If you aren’t smart enough to understand the seriousness of global climate change you aren’t smart enough to be a legislator.
Got to love how now its “climate change” instead of global warming. Wonder what they will call it if someone finds out the climate isn’t changing?
Climate change more accurately reflects what is occurring. Climates are not just warming, some are becoming wetter in some areas and more arid in others.
The USDA plant hardiness map reflects the changes in climate. Zone 6 is now much farther north than it was even 20 years ago. http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
All of the concessions to coal and ethanol and big ag, and they don’t vote for the bill anyway.
Remember those articles that conjectured Obama was treading lightly on mountaintop removal mining because he needed the votes for his climate bill? What excuse does Obama have now for not doing something about mountaintop mining?
I actually think the administration did not work hard on this bill. Remember when Jackson and Chu testified and didn’t endorse the bill?
Thomas,
Did you look at the last EPA analysis of the bill? It shows nuclear replacing lots of coal, renewables and efficiency accounting for growth in energy demand, gas and petroleum holding their own and relatively little CCS. It shows almost all of the emissions reductions from the electrical sector and offsets. Big reductions, but above targets.
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/economics/pdfs/HR2454_Analysis.pdf
Dan,
May be hard to believe, but it was a Republican strategist that changed global warming to climate change. Google Frank Luntz
Never having paid any attention to Frank Luntz, I believe I first heard the term global climate change from a biologist.
Red Desert, I wish I had time to understand it better, I’m sure you are right on what EPA has said. And there is a burgeoning Senate approach, I believe, that some very smart people think is better and simpler than Waxman-Markey. Come on, Jay and Robert C.!
Climate policy is going to be a long, rough ride here in the coalfields, and my mantra is still “eyes wide open.”
One little thing I do feel sometimes on a gut level is that the MTR issue is a gift to folks who want to weaken coal politically on a national scale — for climate policy reasons. If so, how that connection/interplay develops over time will be interesting to see.
In this regard, I sometimes have the feeling that Appalachian people are like the Kurds — “they” play up your problems when it suits them, and drop you when you’ve served their purpose.
Maybe this has something to do with K. Ward’s “where’s the green jobs?” mantra.
Thoughts?
Meanwhile, good discussion, thanks and good night!
I too was surprised, surprised that not one but two democrats voted against a tax increase. Reps Mollohan and Rahall are to be comended for joining Rep Capito in voting against this regressive back door tax. It just shows that the “Green Economy” can not survive without a massive tax that is nothing if not a national transfer of wealth. Robin hood politics at its greatest.
Slightly off topic:
The LA Times seems like the one paper outwardly critical of Obama’s environmental policies to date. This article from a couple days ago discusses administration backtracking on the Roadless Rule and MTR:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-enviro21-2009jun21,0,5994988.story
One of the NPR stations in LA interviewed CEQ’s Nancy Sutley today picking up on topics in the article–they ask her about MTR and she spins:
http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2009/06/25/obamas-environmental-policy/
Thomas,
Many thoughts on your comparison of Appalachia with the Kurds. Sad-making, I’ll leave it at that.
Yes, a simpler bill would be much better than the Rube Goldberg contraption that is Waxman-Markey. I think a simpler bill would be an easier sell, politically, and probably more effective in reducing emissions. The only bill I know of in the Senate right now is the energy bill that passed out of committee last week. It has good stuff–like funding for grids that can handle micro-power–but also some bad stuff like overturning the LCFS that keeps the federal government from buying coal to liquids and tar-sands derived fuel. I hope it doesn’t pass. Boxer’s bill last year seemed even more complicated than Waxman-Markey.
The EPA study surprised me. Look at the graphs on page 11 or 12. I had never heard that the nuclear was playing such a big role. CCS, at the levels in the graphs, is likely realistic. (My crude guess). All of this stuff is pretty iffy, predictions 40 years out. I think the reliance on international offsets is crazy. If the whole developed world relies on such offsets, what would happen to the price? Is such reliance even realistic w/respect to the emissions reductions we need?
Ultimately, I think there is no free lunch. We are going to have to change our behavior as individuals and that is not likely through complex regulatory schemes like Waxman Markey alone. Especially when those schemes try to isolate one market (the cap and trade market) from the broader energy market. Individuals can’t be completely insulated from costs. There needs to be a market signal for them, too.
I will never vote for Rahall again. I wish that there would have been a choice in the last election, but alas there was not. If he runs again I will leave his place on the ballot blank. I am thoroughly disgusted with all of the WV delegation. I am more than disgusted with Manchin. He has proven that he is not for the people of this state, and that he could care less about the health and well being of the people here. All he cares about is the almighty dollar. I left his place on the ballot blank in the last election. I am a democrat, but these people are not democrats in my opinion. They are DINOs and personally I am sick to death of them. When oh when are we going to get representation that is not influenced and financed by coal, but are out for the best interest of WV and the nation as a whole. I truly believe that my late Dad had it right when he called our state capitol the Gold Domed Cesspool, and truthfully our nation’s capital doesn’t smell any better.
Until we rid both capitols of the coal and other fossil fuel influence we will never see the green jobs come to this state or nation.
Mollohan: “I have joined the electric utility industry, the coal industry, the United Mine Workers of America, and other coal state Representatives on negotiations to improve the legislation.”
Gotta love it!
Representative democracy at its best.
Mollohan: “I have joined the electric utility industry, the coal industry, the United Mine Workers of America, and other coal state Representatives on negotiations to improve the legislation.â€
NOW we know who is running the state of WV (as if we didn’t know before) and this proves it: http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200906240516
i’m sick of it all and voting green
I guess I can’t let the above comments on Rahall and Mollohan go by without offering my personal perspective — just one voter’s and citizen’s view, of course, and I respect others’ different views.
I like these Congressmen, and overall, I like what they have done on many, many issues. I donate to their campaigns and actively support them.
Rahall has been absolutely great on endangered species laws, for example. And Alan Mollohan is a powerful voice for public lands and green businesses. Both are reliable votes for low-income people, health care, education, and on many social justice issues before Congress.
I also believe that there is a good chance that their vote at this time for a climate policy bill, with its inevitable adverse effect on coal jobs, would provide powerful ammunition for folks like Don Blankenship and his cronies to try to remove them from office. So I understand the realpolitik that influences their current positions.
As I posted somewhere else a while ago, my experience is that having Democrats in office is like swimming in the saltwater ocean: it makes it easier to keep your head above water — but you still have to swim hard to get anywhere!
Readers,
I appreciate the discussion, and I understand some folks have very strong feelings on this issue … but I’m going to make a warning here … NO NAME-CALLING.
Feel free to disagree with others, but don’t call them names or be disagreeable.
We’ve had several pretty nasty comments calling others names. That won’t be allowed, and if it continues, I’ll just shut off the comments for the day.
Ken.
Well, Tom, this is a debate about the climate change bill, not a debate about voting records on other issues.
A vote against this bill can hardly be viewed as a vote FOR endangered species.
A vote against this bill can hardly be viewed as a vote FOR public lands and green businesses.
What to do about climate change is a complex and contentious issue. But in West Virginia the politics is pretty simple. And it’s spelled out amazingly clearly by Congressman Mollohan’s own words, which I repeat:
Mollohan: “I have joined the electric utility industry, the coal industry, the United Mine Workers of America, and other coal state Representatives on negotiations to improve the legislation.â€
However, I suppose you are right that I should not be too tough on Rahall and Mollohan. I can’t vote for either of these two gentlemen. I am stuck in Shelley Moore Capito’s district!
It’s about time the politicians support the majority of people here in WV. I’m proud of our politicians today.
Troutguy, it’s great what you’re saying. Let me make a comment about process.
You may be in a debate, but I’m in a discussion. I endeavor to resist the debate approach that seems to dominate the Intertubes. I try to see what is cool and interesting and affirmable in other comments, and then offer my perspective.
As you say, climate change is complex, and a lot of its contentiousness comes from the fact that everything is so uncertain — except the incredible dangers our descendants will face if we don’t turn drastically from business as usual.
Because even rich capitalists have descendants, I am hopeful. In fact it will take the joining together of all of the people Mollohan identifies to make the necessary changes.
Sorry about the nut comment. Seriously, most coal miners, especially surface miners, are concerned about the enviroment. I have a simple question – How many people who post comments on this web site have ever seen surface mine reclaimation? My family hunts together. All of our deer in the past 7 years have been harvested on post mine land. You can see 50-60 deer a day. Bears, turkey, squirrels. Wouldn’t you think these creatures would be the first to be harmed by mountain top mining? Not where live and work. There are so many song birds along the road coming to work each morning that you have to slow down for them. Consider jobs, families, wildlife and the environment.
I was thrilled to hear the news that our whole congressional delegation will vote against the Crap and Trade bill. I heard that Rahall’s office was flooded with calls urging him to vote against this bill. After 30 years, I guess he is starting to listen to his constitiuents.
While it is true that Rahall has voted for endangered species and the environment in certain places, he turns a blind eye to what goes on in his own district. He is for protecting the land and animals elsewhere, but not in his own back yard. That tells me a lot a the man.
[...] that Rep. Capito voted against the House version of the climate change bill, and Coal Tattoo has written before about her views on global warming [...]
[...] Electric Power — the nation’s largest coal buyer. And, just for the record, Rep. Rahall voted against the House cap-and-trade [...]
Hello,
I am a resident from Massachusetts, and a student at UMass Amherst. I am writing a paper on Mountaintop mining and the effects on the environment. As a Plant, Soil major it is interesting to see the neglect that representatives have towards the environment. The damage that is being caused by mountaintop mining is destroying local communities, contaminating water, and the air. I can understand that coal is very valuable. It seems as though in the eyes of the politicians the profit from coal is more important that sustaining the planet which we call home. Why not try to find alternative fuel methods, instead of coal? The politicians may be trying to regulate the mining and checking on waste removal, but from my point of view they are failing. If anyone has interesting links on mountaintop mining or other political views it would help my paper. Thanks.