December 23, 2021
Dear editor;
For almost two months we have been hearing that the Democrats in the Senate have been trying to reach agreement on the Build Back Better bill. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia was supposedly holding out because it was too big in spending and increasing the national debt.
Everything is now put on hold until next year, while climate change continues to get worse.
Very frustrating.
The December 22 issue of the Chicago Tribune has an article titled “Manchin has long history of fighting for fossil fuels”. It suggests Manchin is most concerned about killing coal. It points out he received more campaign donations from the oil, coal, and gas, industry than any other senator, Democrat or Republican, in the current election cycle. It even points out that he and his family have made a fortune selling waste coal from abandoned mines to a heavily-polluting power plant in West Virginia. Their business is on the dying side of the industry, but he is still holds up the Nation in putting a price on carbon and a rapid transition to renewable energy. It is clear that his usual harangue about big spending and increasing the national debt is just a distraction.
Very frustrating.
How do we convince him (and his constituents) that the health of the planet is more important than his West Virginia coal industry?
Ken Mozingo, Yorkville