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Why would so many voters be into coal? How many of them actually work in coal mines? If they do, they like it? They want their children in there next?
He's merely protecting his and his family's interests. His son runs the coal business he started and he has been making special deals for it ever since.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/08/manchin-family-coal-company-00003218
"If it was good enough for my grandpa (dead at 45 from black lung), my father (currently in hospice with lung cancer) and me (on disability after a collapse), its good enough for my kids (TBD)!"
I think its partially familiarity, and partially that a lot of the communities were formed around these mines... and without them the community will dry up and wither away. Which is a hard pill to swallow for people who've lived there for multiple generations.
It also doesn't help that Appalachia has basically been reduced to an internal resource colony. Never mind the people who actually live there, its only purpose has been extraction, and everything was built around that. Yes it's brutal, but it paid well. When that dries up it's basically an existential threat. It's not just a case of being set in their ways.
To me, there's little difference between the desire in Appalachia to bring back coal and the desire to bring back factories from overseas.
First I will say the sooner we are off coal the better.
But will answer your question. First off, coal is one of the cheapest energy sources. There is a reason the world is using record breaking amounts today. Keeps their energy prices down. Secondly thru taxes it benefits every person in said state. Not only do these companies pay normal taxes on high profits, but they pay an additional tax in the form of royalties. Third. Have you ever worked in a mine? They take safety serious. Not only that, jobs that pay over 100k a year with little education. Not too much complaining by those that work there.
Short answer. Pay lots into government taxes, keeps energy costs down while creating some of the highest paid jobs. That against the damages to global warming.
Alright, but I'm not too sure about working in the mine being a good gig. I watched something on a small coal town in west Virginia and the citizens didn't exactly like the job. They spent a lot of time in the dark, doing labor. They worked it because the entire town was built on it and there isn't any options for the people that didn't move away. If it's high paying, these guys sure didn't show it.