West Virginia says no to push on Biden on solar panels: Billionaire coal magnate governor vetoes renewable energy bill — claiming it would ‘have put coal miners out of work’

West Virginia’s governor has rejected a bill that would have expanded the use of solar energy to thousands of residents, saying it would hurt the state’s coal industry.

Republican Jim Justice vetoed the bill HB 5228, which passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, because it would “jeopardize” the nation’s energy security and put miners out of work.

The state is home to the nation’s second-largest coal industry, supplying 84,000 tons of coal energy to the U.S. annually.

While Justice may have his citizens in mind when he vetoes the bill, his family owns more than a hundred coal mines in West Virginia and many are struggling to stay alive.

The bill HB 5228 would have expanded West Virginia’s solar power plants, which fuel the state’s electric utilities, from 50 megawatts (MW) to 100 MW.

A 50 MW solar farm could generate enough electricity to power 10,000 homes, while 100 MW would extend the range to power 17,300 homes. Market overview.

Currently, coal-fired power plants provide more than 90 percent of electricity generation to citizens and businesses in West Virginia.

The six Republicans and three Democrats who supported the bill argued that creating a renewable energy development program would lead to an increase in economic development, more jobs and lower electricity costs.

And the bill passed the House of Representatives 61-36 and the Senate 32-1.

Despite Justice’s claims that solar energy will impact working people and raise costs for West Virginians, the governor built his business empire on the coal industry, and state financial disclosures show that his family owns more than 100 companies.

However, his companies are facing hard times and struggling to pay their bills, prompting a series of lawsuits in which the Justice family’s coal companies have been ordered to halt their mining operations.

Still, in his veto letter, the Justice Department expressed concern that passing the law would increase energy costs for consumers and “could further jeopardize our nation’s energy security and leave West Virginians at the mercy of the national electric grid to ensure that we keep the lights on at home. Justice wrote in a letter announcing his decision.

Justice argued that expanding renewable energy infrastructure instead of coal-fired energy would encourage companies to turn to out-of-state alternatives that would raise energy costs for consumers, although he did not specify how.

“The ripple effect of such drastic and rapid changes could result in West Virginians paying more for their energy bills as these entities attempt to pass their cost increases on to consumers,” he continued.

“It could also lead to job losses if coal mines and production facilities quickly go bankrupt.”

While Justice seemed to quickly shut down the expansion of solar power plants, the governor rolled out plans for an iron-air battery factory in 2022.

Iron-air batteries mix water, oxygen and iron to create more cost-effective units, but have an efficiency of less than 50 percent.

Construction of the Form Energy plant in Weirton, which was once a thriving steel mill, was completed last month.

And last year, Justice approved Mountaineer GigaSystem and the Monarch Cloud Campus for data centers powered by net-zero hydrogen, which will be used for data centers, greenhouses, transportation and steel production.

The project’s four-phase construction plan will provide significant employment opportunities for the local workforce, with 800 full-time jobs and 4,200 construction workers when work starts in 2028.

Approving such initiatives has suggested that the Justice Department is not against renewable energy, but only against those energies that we believe could harm the state.

Justice called the bill “well-intentioned” but said it will “further encourage these companies to ditch coal-generated energy and continue to focus on more expensive options outside West Virginia.”

The US Department of Justice filed an application in May last year court case against the governor of West Virginia and his son, James C. Justice III, for failing to pay more than $7.6 million in unpaid fines and fees related to federal mining and safety violations.

Speaking about bill HB 5528, Justice said at a press conference: “…I don’t like what I think is happening among the higher-ups who are being incentivized to try to push coal into the background.

“Really, I don’t like the fact that what we’re doing might be something that’s going to lead to higher energy costs for our consumers in West Virginia, our households here. I don’t like that either.’

Dailymail.com has reached out to Governor Jim Justice for comment.

In the US, it costs about $36 to produce one MW of electricity per hour from a coal-fired power plant, while it costs about $24 to build enough solar panels to generate the same amount of electricity, the report said. Energy News Network.

a 2023 study revealed that it is 99 percent more expensive to run American coal-fired power plants than to build a completely new solar farm.

“Coal is undeniably more expensive than wind and solar, it is simply no longer cost-competitive with renewables,” said Michelle Solomon, policy analyst at Energy Innovation.who carried out the analysis, said The guard.

“This report certainly challenges the narrative that coal is here to stay.”

Air-fired coal-fired power stations are a major source of particulate matter that causes air pollution and has been linked to asthma, cancer and heart and lung disease.

The US Energy Information Administration It is estimated that coal-fired power plants are responsible for approximately 20 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the US and nearly 60 percent of CO2 emissions globally.

Coal mines can also contaminate groundwater from the storage of coal ash in landfills that can seep into the water and have raised environmental concerns among advocates seeking to reduce carbon emissions.