Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union, said on Tuesday that the U.S. “ought to be appalled” by the lack of support the mining industry has received from lawmakers in its efforts to transition to renewable energy.
Roberts appeared on Hill.TV’s “Rising” to discuss how his union felt about transitioning away from fossil fuels and into renewable energy.
According to the union president, talking about the transition to a renewable energy industry is easier than actually going through with the investment and training that has been promised to mine workers over the years.
Roberts said that one issuing hampering this transition is the outsourcing of renewable energy manufacturing to China, arguing that bringing such jobs to the U.S. would go “10,000 miles in improving the conditions” in Appalachia where much of the mining industry is located.
“Rising” host Krystal Ball noted that lawmakers have often promised to provide training programs to help miners move on to industries, only for these proposals to stagnate or fail to materialize.
“When people start talking about just transition, unfortunately people ended up getting their transition down to bankruptcy,” Roberts said.
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