When President Joe Biden convenes a virtual climate summit on Thursday, he will bring together 40 world leaders and unveil a target for the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that he hopes will serve as an example to the world.
But just as he must calibrate the impact of emissions on global warming, in making his calculations, he must also find a way of balancing the demands within his own party between climate change activists and blue-collar voters who worry about their jobs while Republicans in Trump country see an opening for attack.
Although protecting the planet’s health is vital, Randy Jones, a Democratic strategist and fourth-generation West Virginian, said so, too, is protecting the health of communities hit by reductions in fossil fuel use.
“Here’s the reality of … as Joe Manchin says … my little state, my home of West Virginia: When the coal mine closes, the grocery store closes, the gas station closes — and, eventually, even the Walmart leaves,” he said. “What we have been left with in many communities in my state is a decimation of the community economically that has then been replaced by some of the worst parts of the opioid epidemic that this country has seen.”
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The issue is sensitive in West Virginia, which claims to be the sixth-largest producer of energy in the country. And Manchin, chairman of the Senate energy committee, has already signaled he will not be a pushover on liberal climate policy on this issue.
Just ask Hillary Clinton. In 2016, she tried to explain how turning away from fossil fuels in places similar to West Virginia in favor of green technology could protect jobs in the state, but this came undone when the exchange was remembered for a partial sound bite, in which she said, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
And Biden made a similar stumble during the 2020 campaign when he said miners should learn to program to find “jobs of the future.”
So, too, is the case for Republicans in Pennsylvania, where Trump supporters say Biden’s policies could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. They smell blood and a similar opportunity when the president unveils his new emission targets.
“It’s all ammunition,” said Rob Gleason, former chairman of the state’s Republican Party. “He’s just setting the table for us next year. People here are not connecting with Biden or the things he is promoting when it comes to gas, coal, and climate change.”
The result was a rush by administration officials and allies to offer reassurance on Monday.
White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm both made the case that the president’s moves on climate change would bring net gains for jobs.
And at an event with Manchin, the United Mine Workers of America said it was prepared to accept a transition away from fossil fuels if it came with financial aid for miners who lost their jobs, employment opportunities in renewable energy, and investment in clean coal technology.
“Change is coming, whether we seek it or not,” it said in a document setting out its position. “Too many inside and outside the coalfields have looked the other way when it comes to recognizing and addressing specifically what that change must be, but we can look away no longer.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken described part of the administration’s pitch in a speech delivered on Monday. He warned that the U.S. was falling behind China, the largest producer of electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, and other elements of a green economy.
“If we don’t catch up, America will miss the chance to shape the world’s climate future in a way that reflects our interests and values, and we’ll lose out on countless jobs for the American people,” he said.
If the administration sees a domestic win in an international summit, the message is not getting through to voters at home, according to critics.
The promise of green jobs is an illusion to many, Gleason said.
“Nobody knows what a green job is,” he said. “When you talk to the blue-collar guys, it is a pipe dream.”
But in West Virginia, Jones said people were slowly coming to terms with the idea that economic forces, rather than political forces, were killing off coal and gas. Investment in other jobs will be crucial.
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He said: “I hope Joe Biden turns out to be the guy I voted for, who thinks that these folks that live in the mountains here in West Virginia who mined coal for 100 years are not worthless, that we are worth something, that we are worth a fighting chance, that we are worth our pensions when these coal mines close down, that we’re worth not just government training programs but tuition help so that they can go and find another career.”
