Christmas is around the corner. And President Biden being a peddler of decarbonization should land him the coveted No. 1 spot on Santa’s Naughty List.
A lump of coal, however, simply won’t be enough. Only a looming heating oil shortage in the Northeast and rising fuel prices elsewhere, which will bring coal into the forefront again, could force him to moderate.
Biden’s recent coal comments set off a firestorm of epic proportions.
“Folks, it’s also now cheaper to generate electricity from wind and solar than it is from coal and oil. Literally cheaper. Not a joke,” he remarked. “No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation. And all they’re doing is — it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money, and they’re using the same transmission line that transmitted the coal-fired electric on. We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre botched her clean up of his comments, tweeting, “@POTUS knows that the men and women of coal country built this nation: they powered its steel mills and factories, kept its homes and schools and offices warm. They made this the most productive and powerful nation on Earth.”
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who probably regrets endorsing the sham Inflation Reduction Act now, strongly rebuked Biden, saying, “Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure.”