FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 10, 2019
[TRIANGLE, VA.] United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:
“Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has demonstrated his contempt for the working families of Appalachia and other coal-dependent communities once again with his $500 million pledge to destroy every American job associated with coal by 2030. Instead of taking a rational approach to addressing the issue of climate change, he has pledged to throw more than 800,000 people out of work and destroy their families and communities while he’s at it.
“Bloomberg is not just interested in throwing coal miners and their families in the ditch, he is throwing utility workers, electrical workers, building tradespeople, boilermakers, laborers, railroad workers and more in the ditch as well. And his action contributed to the assault on pensions and health care of retirees his Wall Street buddies began in 2008 when they cratered the American economy and caused a worldwide recession.
“And if he is successful, the only thing he will have achieved by 2030 is to put all those families on the economic chopping block, because simply ending coal-fired power in the United States will have no actual effect on global greenhouse gas emissions. Nations in Africa, Asia and South America already have hundreds of coal-fired power plants under construction, all built without the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology that will be needed to truly address climate change.
“His money would be much better spent on helping to more rapidly develop CCS so that it can be commercially applied in America and across the globe. But since he apparently doesn’t have the vision to see that, he should at least team up with his buddy Tom Steyer and donate $2 billion or so to the UMWA 1974 Pension Plan, since he has been such a driving force in putting it in critical and declining status. At least then he would be doing something to help Appalachian families and communities instead of destroying them.”
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