One of the big topics of the last few days is “What’s Wrong with Kentucky (& West Virgina).” Aside from the Obama Muslim-conspiracy theories and attitudes towards race, the issue of coal is most contentious. The GOP claims that Democrats support a “war on coal,” another imaginary war like the “war on Christmas,”“war on marriage,”“war on guns,” etc.
Thing is that coal is an outmoded and extremely dirty source of power that hurts our environment too badly to embrace coal. Of course, the consequence is losing elections over the jobs that the coal industry, both mining and power, creates
The big myth, however, is that there isn’t an alternative way to shore up the economy as market forces of capitalism end the King Coal’s reign of environmental destruction.
First, let’s look at how coal currently plays a role in the Appalachian economy:
Clearly, Kentucky and WV have a lot of coal mines and power-plants that operate on coal. Maybe this looks hopeless in terms of beating the coal lobby and interest groups.
However, Appalachia has a lot of potential for alternative energy that the coal industry said you weren’t supposed to see:
Kentucky and West Virginia (more WV) have a lot of wind power potential. I’m currently in IL, and in the part of the state colored brown, and a drive into the rural parts of the center of the state (still the brown part) have many a windfarm, which to me is awe inspiring to see. Eastern Kentucky, one of Bevin’s top areas (and thus Conway’s weaknesses) has the chance to replace the a lot of the coal addiction in that state. It would be a battle given how coal mines are concentrated there.
West Virginia, a state that voted Jimmy Carter twice, Dukakis (52-47 Duke to Bush), and Bill Clinton twice (48-35 Clinton to Bush and 51-37 Clinton to Dole), is another state that’s receptive to the “war on coal” message. Gore lost WV in part because he spent little money there, but also in part because Dubya leveraged his oil man cred there. Lucky for us tho, WV has a lot more wind potential than KY, per the map.
Then there’s solar radiation. Unfortunately, KY/WV doesn’t get the kind of solar power that NV, CA, NM, and Arizona get. However, Phoenix Woman and Egalitare, in my diary about the war on coal meme, pointed out that Germany is a solar power hub yet like the rest of Europe, gets very little sunshine relative to most of the US. Additionally, while KY/WV
will be hard to push solar in, solar should be pushed in Florida (to solidify our advantage), as well as Louisiana, a state in which Hillary has beaten Jindal (the sitting gov twice elected in landslides), and that Bill Clinton won twice (most recently voted Dem in 1996, Clinton won LA 52-37 vs. Dole). Even if LA might be hard, it would be nice to see the GOP having to spend time/money there. Same with Arkansas, that Bill Clinton won twice by wide margins.
All hope in Appalachia isn’t gone yet. Would it be nice to not need anything in the South? Yea, but clearly, Obama’s strategy is not something that can be easily replicated, if at all. Therefore, we need to use the economic and alternate energy leverage to keep Donald Trump or Marco Rubio away from the White House.
