October 26, 2021
BLEEDING THE HILLBILLIES:
West Virginia's reliance on coal is getting more expensive, and Joe Manchin's constituents are footing the bill (Ella Nilsen, 10/21/21, CNN)
As America has largely transitioned away from coal-fired power, West Virginia has thrown its weight behind it. The state is the second-largest coal producer in the country, and coal generates nearly 89% of its electricity compared to just 19% nationwide -- a steep fall from 1990, when coal powered 52% of US electricity.But coal has become more expensive than renewables or natural gas, the prices of which have fallen rapidly, and in West Virginia, the ratepayers are footing the bill. With three of the state's major coal-fired power plants in need of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of mandatory upgrades, costs for ratepayers like Chase will continue to go up.
The Right/Left likes to pretend that such places are victims of economic forces beyond their control. The fact is this is planned obsolescence, a function of fetishizing an imaginary past.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 26, 2021 12:00 AM