Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called President Joe Biden’s suggestion that U.S. coal plants would shut down “outrageous and divorced from reality,” slamming his fellow Democrat three days before midterm elections where the party’s congressional majorities are at stake.
While Manchin didn’t specify which Biden comments he found offensive, his furious statement followed the president’s campaign speech in California on Friday that hailed the transition from coal energy to wind and solar as renewable technologies become more competitive. As burning coal become less economically viable, “we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America,” Biden said.
Manchin, whose state is the second-biggest U.S. coal producer, slammed the president’s comments as out of touch with rising energy prices and disrespectful to coal miners and workers.
