Joe Manchin’s ‘Good Friend,’ Union Leader Cecil Roberts, Says Eliminating Fossil Fuels Is a Deal-Breaker

Joe Manchin’s ‘Good Friend,’ Union Leader Cecil Roberts, Says Eliminating Fossil Fuels Is a Deal-Breaker

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), told Newsweek on Wednesday that he could not support President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan with its current goal of achieving 80 percent carbon-free electricity by 2030 and 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.

Part of the plan, the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), consists of a $150 billion program designed to increase the amount of clean energy distributed to consumers by 4 percent each year. Companies that complete this objective would receive financial incentives and those that fail would face financial penalties.

Under this plan, Roberts said, coal-fired power plants could face a succession of closures, as they would likely fail to meet these deadlines. While coal plants could theoretically meet requirements through the process of storing emissions using carbon capture and sequestration, current technology. Roberts said, makes it unfeasible and that he does not expect it to catch up by the time of Biden's proposed deadlines.