My representative here in Lexington, KY, Andy Barr, is just soooo angry at AOC for working against climate change and promoting alternative sources of energy, thereby putting the last two coal miners out of work, that he has invited her to visit a coal mine. Here is the story:
www.kentucky.com/…
Barr, the Kentucky Republican whose office has reached out to hers, extended the offer Tuesday to the sponsor of the sweeping Green New Deal that Republicans say would put coal miners out of business. Barr asked Ocasio-Cortez to “go underground” in a mine with him.
Great, she said. “It’s very close to my heart,” Ocasio-Cortez said of struggling areas of Appalachia. “Folks may not think of that because I’m from the Bronx, but my family in Puerto Rico was a rural family too. I understand some of the challenges.”
His thinking was probably “I’ll invite her to a coal mine, and she will decline, and I’ll hit her for being against coal miners and not even wanting to hear what they say OR if she accepts, she’ll realize how horrible she is for wanting to put these guys out of work — either way, I can make her look bad”. MY belief is that she knows how to talk to these guys, and she will probably win a LOT of them over. THEY know, and SHE knows that they are in a dying industry, and the only hope for a bright future for them and their families is new industries in the areas where they live. I’ve always believed that the government should subsidize new energy industries located in places like Kentucky where the old energy sources are dying and SHOULD die. Help these people. AOC gets that, but Barr does not. He is a Trump lover (who somehow convinces people that he is an ‘independent’) who wants to support coal AND doesn’t believe in climate change. He doesn’t know who he will be dealing with.
Oh yeah, I’m a 58 year old white guy in KY who loves everything about AOC. I’m not even gonna try to pronounce her name, but I believe in everything she stands for.
UPDATE: A few other things AOC could discuss with the miners:
- Coal mining has made your water undrinkable. We can fix that
- Many water companies in coal areas have been in horrible disrepair. In some areas, 50% or more of the water leaving the water company leaks into the ground before it ever reaches a customer. And the customers are paying for that leakage in the form of sky high water bills. We can fix that.
- Coal pensions are disappearing thanks to coal companies going bankrupt, leaving retired coal miners destitute. We can fix that.
- Black lung is making a huugge comeback, and recent Trump policies are making it harder for miners to get benefits. We can fix that.