4 days ago
Director of bipartisan energy group says Big Beautiful Bill could kill clean energy jobs in West Virginia
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — The executive director of a bipartisan group which represents business leaders and investors in the U.S. green energy sector said a budget proposed by President Donald Trump could kill energy jobs in West Virginia.
Bob Keefe, executive director of E2 and author of the book 'Clean Economy Now,' said on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, that businesses across the country had cancelled or delayed more than $14 billion in investments and 10,000 clean energy jobs since January.
Keefe said West Virginia jobs in construction, manufacturing and other sectors in Huntington, Wayne County and other places in the state will be affected if the U.S. Senate were to vote in favor of a portion of the budget which calls for cutting clean energy tax credits.
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Keefe made the announcement a few days after officials at Core Natural Resources, citing the market, warned more than 200 miners at Itmann Mine #5 in Wyoming County that they would face a lay-off in early August, if mine operations did not improve.
'Look, every job is important. Every coal job is important,' Keefe said on Wednesday. 'What's killing coal is not clean energy. What's killing coal is that coal companies continue to automate and also, frankly, the economics have caught up with the energy industry.'
Keefe said utility companies pay more to burn coal and that West Virginians pay rising utility costs as a result.
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'The good news is we have the opportunity to transition those coal jobs, and who better to drive the energy industry than coal workers, and that means coal workers in West Virginia,' Keefe said. 'These jobs are just now coming. Hopefully, Congress, in the next few weeks, doesn't kill it off.'
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