Manchin wants King Coal, Coalfields Expressway projects prioritized
With funding coming for the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said a process must be in place to target projects on those two highways that are ready to go.
The bill, which includes $550 billion in new spending, is setting aside $110 billion for roads, bridges and major projects around the country.
Manchin said during a virtual press conference Thursday that West Virginia will get its share, although he does not yet know how much will be available for those two major highway projects.
“What we need to do is look at what is doable, where are we further along, what areas have been put on hiatus for awhile,” he said, referring to the sections of the highways that are not yet complete and in various stages of planning and design. “Those will be the ones we will be looking at.”
Manchin said he would encourage the state Department of Highways to be identifying the high priorities, of what can be completed (with the available money).
“Here’s the thing, we are putting money into the state system,” he said. “The Governor (Jim Justice) and the Legislature, all of them, should be very much involved. I can have my input because we are going to put the dollars into West Virginia.”
Manchin said he will be “more than happy” to reach out to Justice to make sure he understands money will be coming, and to Byrd White, transportation secretary.
“We want to be able to complete a project, not just start it and not finish, or get them on a way that makes sense,” he said.
Manchin also said part of the plan includes $4 billion for coal counties in the country that have been in decline to retrofit manufacturing facilities and even closed coal-fired power plants.
“We have always done the heavy lifting,” he said of West Virginia and energy, and converting facilities to concentrate on clean technology for fossil fuels as well as green energy products makes sense.
Manchin, who is chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said using nuclear energy should also be on the table.
“I have been talking to Bill Gates,” he said of a project in Wyoming that retrofitted a closed coal-fired power generation plant to generate nuclear energy. “Bill Gates invested in it.”
Manchin said it uses low-grade uranium.
“It believe the state Legislature should lift the ban on nuclear,” he said. “It’s something we should be looking at if they are going to be closing power plants in West Virginia. We need a chance to retrofit if we could … All options are on the table.”
West Virginia could also retrofit plants with the use of infrastructure money to make components for electric vehicles (EVs), but he has a problem in moving full steam ahead in the EV direction.
He said he understands the primary cause of emission issues is transportation and it’s important to remedy that, but the rare earth minerals needed for EVs are coming from China after being refined there.
Not only could that put this country at the mercy of a foreign country with transportation, just like the oil crisis did decades ago, China also takes advantage of labor in poor countries in Africa to mine the minerals.
“People are enslaved,” he said. "It’s horrible. Our environmental community is turning a blind eye to this … to the people who are suffering for a ‘better world.’ I am very much concerned about that.”
Part of the infrastructure bill earmarks $7.5 billion to develop more charging stations for EVs, but Manchin said he is not in agreement to go all out in the EV direction and depend on a “foreign supply chain” to provide transportation.
“I don’t want another country having control over how we go from place to lace and to get to work,” he said.
The infrastructure bill also includes $73 billion for power grid development; $65 billion for broadband; $66 billion for passenger and freight rail; $55 billion for water infrastructure; $25 billion for airports; and $17 billion for ports and waterways.
All of this new spending will be paid for repurposing unused COVID relief dollars, economic growth through investments, unused federal unemployment insurance and other avenues.
The rest of the $1.2 trillion package is from money already allocated to many of these areas through other bills and ongoing earmarks.
Manchin called the bill’s passage “monumental” in what it accomplished, the jobs it creates and the bipartisanship needed to get it through in a toxic political environment.
“It is a historical investment,” he said. “This will be the greatest supporter of jobs in America for five to eight years in every part of our country, good paying jobs for people.”
It will also send a message to other countries that American politicians can work together, he added.
Manchin said the Senate should send the final version to the House next week and it could be passed within two weeks.
By: Charles Boothe
Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph
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