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REPUBLICAN OF THE YEAR
Manchin pays $3M per job for coal-liquid plant
One columnist says plant likely to be 'rendered an economic lemon' very soon
In case you missed it, The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward Jr. broke a major story Friday when he reported that the "Manchin administration has agreed to give nearly $200 million in tax breaks and other incentives to developers of a coal-to-liquids plant proposed for Marshall County." The Charleston Daily Mail's George Hohmann also filed a report.As Ward reported, "That's about $3.3 million in government incentives for each of the 60 jobs the facility would provide."Three million bucks per job created? Shoot, Herbert Hoover could have created enough jobs to avoid the Great Depression if he could have spent $3 million per job.All business-minded people are in favor of utilizing West Virginia coal for as many years as that cash cow can be milked, but the deal Manchin made with Appalachian Fuel LLC to develop the $800 million coal-to-liquids facility is not only giving away the store, it's giving away the store plus another store to be named later.How can we know for sure this was such a bad deal? Because the Manchin administration tried to keep the details a secret. As Ward reported, Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes "had previously refused to release the agreement, and continued to insist Thursday that the document was exempt from disclosure under the state's public records law.""If I were a governor and an energy company proposed opening a liquid coal plant in my state, I would marshal every resource available to fight it off. You get a few dozen jobs in the short-term; in the long-term, you get intense pollution, a bad reputation, and a facility that is almost certain to be rendered an economic lemon by carbon regulations, thus setting up the need for ongoing corporate welfare. Hard to imagine a worse idea."
I know, I know -- Ken Ward, The Charleston Gazette, the Huffington Post and David Roberts are all part of the liberal left and they're going to come down in opposition to almost any pro-coal initiative. But they're not wrong all the time, and in this case, they're right. Again, how do we know? Because the Manchin administration tried to keep the details a secret. Coal-to-liquids is probably not the clunker Roberts suggests, since he's apparently part of the environmental left that wouldn't see any good in coal if it was a healthy snack food. But he does make a good point when he adds, "We're entering an era that will see extraordinary attention focused on finding clean energy and increasing energy efficiency. Deals like this ensure that states like West Virginia relegate themselves to the status of backwater -- the equivalent of a third world country in the U.S. Aren't West Virginians tired of that?" The coal-to-liquid movement is only worth trying because of its appeasement to those who think coal itself is too dirty and turning it into liquid results in a cleaner product. Promoting coal-to-liquid technology is a good move, but not to the tune of $200 million in tax breaks and subsidies to create just 60 -- sixty -- jobs. Maybe a state-sponsored $200 million deal to create, say, a thousand jobs would be worth a roll of the dice. But sixty? Manchin is so zoned into finding reasons to announce good news and more jobs that the associated price tag for state taxpayers is a mere nuisance to him. He wants so badly to prove that his intention to make West Virginia "open for business" will be successful that he cuts bad deals that will cost West Virginia for decades to come.Again, how do we know for sure? Because they tried to keep it secret. Even Mojo and his crew were embarrassed for the facts of the deal to come out.CONSOL President and CEO J. Brett Harvey, whose company is a major player in the newly-formed Appalachian Fuel company, told the State Journal, "Other states wanted to do it, but West Virginia was most open to it." Now we know just how open, and why other states declined to match Joe's offer -- three million bucks per job.JOE MANCHIN: OFFERING $3 MILLION PER JOB
Casino site finds it amazing that WV education doesn't get more gambling funds
An online gambling news site has expressed its amazement that in West Virginia, more gambling money does not go to education, but instead lines the pockets of breeders.Casino Gambling Web posted a story Monday by staff editor April Gardner, saying, "With many states using their casino gambling revenue to fund education, it comes as a bit of a surprise that West Virginia is giving money to these breeders."Gardner writes, "In 2007, the state gave out $12.6 million from the Thoroughbred Breeder Development Fund and the West Virginia Greyhound Breeder Development Fund. That figure should jump after the state Legislature decided that two percent of revenues from table games will also go to breeders."Gardner adds,"It is clear that West Virginia is taking a different stance than that of other states. In most states, casino gambling is legalized at racetracks for the sole purpose of raising money for the state, money that is usually distributed to education."Teachers, you know who to thank. Barth's support by Emily's List tells much on politics
The announcement last week that Democrat congressional candidate Anne Barth has been added to Emily's List of supported candidates tells much about Barth's politics and what liberal groups like about her so much.Emily's List funds only pro-choice female candidates, actually preferring candidates who take the most extreme, radical pro-choice positions possible. It recently became upset when the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton because, as an Emily's List spokesman said, “I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton - who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade - to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process."So, Emily's List sees the perfect candidate as one who makes the right to an abortion the defining issue in just about every matter coming before Congress, and it apparently feels that Anne Barth fits that model. Barth, by the way, will be the recipient of another fundraising event tonight hosted by Sen. Robert C. Byrd.