August 9, 2022
Joe Manchin May Have Just Cooked His Own Goose
By John Kudla
Joe Manchin has finally agreed to a compromise with Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer on the latest Build Back Better compromise bill, known, laughingly, as the Inflation Reduction Act,. The Act was just passed by the Senate.
West Virginia is the nation's fifth-largest energy producer. The energy is in the form of coal, natural gas, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. According to a 2020 report from USenergyjobs.org, roughly 49,500 West Virginia jobs are directly tied to fossil fuels and power generation.
The number is much higher if you include the indirect jobs tied to energy. A 2019 report by the Economic Policy Institute claims the number of indirect jobs created by energy activities is roughly 5.6 to 1. If we accept a more conservative estimate of roughly 5 to 1, the number of indirect jobs could be as high as 250,000. Add in the almost 50,000 direct energy jobs, and it is possible somewhere around 300,000 Mountain State jobs are tied to energy. Out of total employment of about 750,000, this is approximately 40.0% of the active workforce.
So, if Manchin does anything to hurt energy jobs, his reelection prospects in 2024 are bleak.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/08/joe_manchin_may_have_just_cooked_his_own_goose.html
