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The problem is the US doesn't have senators whose constituents make solar a key part of their identity (or if we do, those senators arwnt swing votes who need t

The problem is the US doesn't have senators whose constituents make solar a key part of their identity (or if we do, those senators arwnt swing votes who need to be appeased and disproportionately porked up)

pibaker 1mo ago
From the way people talk about American coal miners, you'd think there are millions of them and they all live in the Appalachia. When the truth is there are only 45,000 of them in the whole country. Walmart employs over 10,000 people in WV alone. And it's not just in Appalachia, either — Wyoming produces twice as much coal as PA and WV combined. Crazy how much of this really just boils down to identity politics for a small segment of coal miners.
- im3w1l 1mo ago
  There are two kinds of jobs: export jobs and local jobs. I mean export in a loose sense - not necessarily crossing country borders, but rather something that is transported to other regions. Export jobs like mining, an industry etc is the base that creates and support an economy of local jobs around them. Local jobs like walmart, hairdressers, gas station, laundromat etc. Every community must have export jobs in order to be able to trade for imported goods. You can't just take the coal mining away and keep the walmart. Now there are exceptions: a tourist economy exports services that are normally local jobs. And some communities only exist because of subsidies and handouts. But they are exceptions.
- NetMageSCW 1mo ago
  In West Virginia alone coal mining drive $21 billion in economic activity and provides for over 36,000 jobs total when you include related fields like power generation. It is an important in more ways than just mining jobs.
  - pibaker 1mo ago
    You can say this about many other jobs. But they don't get their own Joe Manchin.
  - tonyedgecombe 1mo ago
    Jobs in power generation will exist whether you are using coal, gas, solar, wind or hydro.
- gopher_space 1mo ago
  > Crazy how much of this really just boils down to identity politics for a small segment of coal miners. The coal and oil industries have a proven track record of paying their bribes on time that stretches back a hundred years or more, and those industries wouldn't exist if they weren't able to move numbers around a ledger at whim. Modern industries like Solar and Wind don't have nearly the same requirements and, more importantly, started life with modern accounting practices and Excel in an era without functional graft. Coal is an existential issue for politicians and a very few others.

pibaker 1mo ago

From the way people talk about American coal miners, you'd think there are millions of them and they all live in the Appalachia. When the truth is there are only 45,000 of them in the whole country. Walmart employs over 10,000 people in WV alone. And it's not just in Appalachia, either — Wyoming produces twice as much coal as PA and WV combined. Crazy how much of this really just boils down to identity politics for a small segment of coal miners.

im3w1l 1mo ago
There are two kinds of jobs: export jobs and local jobs. I mean export in a loose sense - not necessarily crossing country borders, but rather something that is transported to other regions. Export jobs like mining, an industry etc is the base that creates and support an economy of local jobs around them. Local jobs like walmart, hairdressers, gas station, laundromat etc. Every community must have export jobs in order to be able to trade for imported goods. You can't just take the coal mining away and keep the walmart. Now there are exceptions: a tourist economy exports services that are normally local jobs. And some communities only exist because of subsidies and handouts. But they are exceptions.
NetMageSCW 1mo ago
In West Virginia alone coal mining drive $21 billion in economic activity and provides for over 36,000 jobs total when you include related fields like power generation. It is an important in more ways than just mining jobs.
- pibaker 1mo ago
  You can say this about many other jobs. But they don't get their own Joe Manchin.
- tonyedgecombe 1mo ago
  Jobs in power generation will exist whether you are using coal, gas, solar, wind or hydro.
gopher_space 1mo ago
> Crazy how much of this really just boils down to identity politics for a small segment of coal miners. The coal and oil industries have a proven track record of paying their bribes on time that stretches back a hundred years or more, and those industries wouldn't exist if they weren't able to move numbers around a ledger at whim. Modern industries like Solar and Wind don't have nearly the same requirements and, more importantly, started life with modern accounting practices and Excel in an era without functional graft. Coal is an existential issue for politicians and a very few others.