Miners' union backs shift from coal in exchange for jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's largest coal miners' union said Monday it would accept President Joe Biden's plan to move away from coal and other fossil fuels in exchange for a “true energy transition" that includes thousands of jobs in renewable energy and spending on technology to make coal cleaner.

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers Union, said ensuring jobs for displaced miners — including 7,000 coal workers who lost their jobs last year — is crucial to any infrastructure bill taken up by Congress.

“I think we need to provide a future for those people, a future for anybody that loses their job because of a transition in this country, regardless if it’s coal, oil, gas or any other industry for that matter,'' Roberts said in an online speech to the National Press Club.

“We talk about a 'just transition' all the time,'' Roberts added. “I wish people would quit using that. There’s never been a just transition in the history of the United States.''

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., appearing with Roberts at the Press Club event, said measures to help coal miners in West Virginia and other rural states must be part of the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package taking shape in Congress.

“Basically what is needed ... is the human infrastructure,'' Manchin said. “You can’t leave anybody behind,'' especially those in his hard-hit state, which has lost thousands of jobs in mining and other resource extraction industries jobs in recent years.

“I can tell you how West Virginia feels. We feel like returning Vietnam veterans,'' Manchin said. “We’ve done every dirty job you’ve asked us to do. We never question it. We did it and performed well. And now all of a sudden we’re not good enough, we’re not clean enough, we're not green enough...