Beshear claims to support coal miners, but his actions say otherwise.

Kentucky Governor Refuses to Support Coal Power Plant Bill and Backs Anti-Coal Politicians

On the campaign trail, Andy Beshear promised to fight for “Kentucky’s coal country,” but as governor, he refused to support a bill that would make it harder to close the state’s coal power plants. This decision contradicts his campaign rhetoric and could hurt him in his reelection bid against Republican challenger Daniel Cameron.

Beshear’s Anti-Coal Stance

In March, Beshear refused to sign Senate Bill 4, a GOP bill that prohibits the state from approving requests to retire coal plants unless the utility can prove that the retirement would not diminish power grid reliability. The bill comes as Kentucky, like many states, experiences a decline in coal plants, a trend that the Kentucky Coal Association says could lead to power blackouts. While coal plants can be turned off at the flip of a switch, green alternatives such as wind and solar rely on favorable weather conditions to operate at full capacity, which can lead to power supply issues.

Besides his lack of support for the coal bill, the Democrat in 2016 and 2020 publicly backed his party’s anti-coal presidential nominees. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised to “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” while President Joe Biden six years later vowed to shut down coal plants “all across America.” Beshear has touted his support for both Democrats.

Beshear’s Appointments

Beshear has also appointed state officials who have a long history of opposing Kentucky coal. Beshear’s pick to be Kentucky’s “ambassador to the rest of the world,” poet Silas House, in 2011 attended a prominent anti-coal mining protest and went on to blast lenient environmental restrictions toward coal in a 2011 New York Times op-ed. House on Twitter has also blasted a majority of Kentucky’s voters as homophobic bigots—the Beshear appointee deleted the posts after the governor tapped him to serve as the state’s poet laureate.

The Future of Coal in Kentucky

Kentucky is the nation’s fifth-largest coal-producing state, and coal accounts for 75 percent of Kentucky’s electric power portfolio, making it the primary source of energy for the Bluegrass State. Biden’s animosity toward coal isn’t just rhetoric. The president’s Environmental Protection Agency last month unveiled new emission standards for coal plants, which force them to slash their carbon emissions a whopping 90 percent between 2035 and 2040. The near-impossible task will force many coal plants to shut down rather than spend big to comply, experts say, an issue that motivated Kentucky Republicans to issue their coal bill.

Despite the challenges facing the coal industry, Beshear’s refusal to support the coal bill and his backing of anti-coal politicians could hurt him in his reelection bid. Kentucky voters will have to decide whether they want a governor who fights for their coal industry or one who aligns with the national Democratic Party’s anti-coal stance.

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