Biden's Policies Were The Biggest Direct Investment In State Since LBJ, But That's Not What WV Voters Wanted. Oh Well.

[hatrack]

EDIT

In 2022, the Biden administration earmarked billions of dollars to help revitalize and strengthen former coal communities. The objective was to lay down building blocks for the region to transition from extractive industries like coal and timber to a hub for solar and other advanced energy technologies, with a view to long-term economic, climate and social resilience. But on his first day in office, Donald Trump scrapped Biden’s clean energy and environmental programs, which he lambasted as woke, anti-American liberal hoaxes.

“We knew we were living in a historic moment, not just because of the amount of funding, but because the whole region mobilized to meet the moment,” said Hannah, 33. “It was a once-in-a-generation cash injection designed to prioritize extraction-based communities as part of the energy transition, which for the first time in almost a century made Appalachia very competitive. So to have it all taken away is deeply damaging and demoralizing.”

EDIT

Rural communities in Appalachia were on the verge of breaking ground on projects when the grants were paused or terminated by the so-called “department of government efficiency”, or DOGE, led by the billionaire Trump donor Elon Musk. The wholesale cull included the $3bn Environmental and Climate Justice Program created in the IRA to tackle the climate crisis and environmental harms at a local level. A few grants have since been reinstated, but are subject to long delays – in part because so many staff at federal agencies were forced out by Doge. Many remain the subject of litigation. Every single grant Coalfield Development was helping coordinate has been impacted in some way.

EDIT

The grant was among those summarily terminated by DOGE. It remains the subject of class action litigation brought by 350 groups, tribes and local governments who claim the wholesale termination of the $3bn environmental justice and climate program is unconstitutional. In Lee county, where 85% of people voted for Trump and almost half rely on food stamps, AV had earmarked $40,000 for an asbestos survey in Pennington Gap. This was among a stack of grants secured by the community to demolish a derelict supermarket – a concrete asbestos-ridden eyesore that frequently floods and cuts off neighborhoods from the main town – to create a green space that would mitigate against future flooding.

EDIT

About 60 miles east, Dante, a sparsely populated former integrated mining community that was once the second largest in Russell county, suffers frequent power outages – including a four-day blackout during a major flood in July, and nine days after Hurricane Helene in August 2024. Dante’s share of the terminated EPA grant was tagged for a feasibility study on the old railway depot, once the hub of mining operations and the whole town. This is the first step needed to convert the depot into a resilience hub with solar panels and battery storage, a place for residents to charge their phones and keep medication refrigerated during the next blackout. The post office has been closed since July, due to flood damage. The only place still open for business in Dante is the volunteer-run mining museum.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/29/trump-coal-country

[biophile]

1. Can't fix stupid

But you can fix uneducated and they refuse to do that, too 😑

[iluvtennis]

9. And I wold add "Can't fix hate" to that. They voted for trump and his hateful policies against "Others". n/t

[biophile]

16. That's a good point

My daughter works in a dementia unit and she says those old people can’t remember names, or family or what day it is but they don’t ever forget their racism or bigotry. They will call the aides awful names and slurs all while cursing at those who are literally helping them live, move and eat.

[Rendville]

2. Voters DID Want The Investments!

Voters did want the Biden investments.
They were not “out-voted.”
We all know what went down in the so-called election.
So let us NOT allow The Guardian or any other outlet to present this false narrative.

[hatrack]

3. Well, they sure as shit didn't vote accordingly . . . .

Feel free to share your CT that racked up 60% and 70% margins from Trump in WV county after WV county - as well as the rationale that would make it worthwhile to do so in one of the safest Trump states in the Union.

[paleotn]

10. The WV vote was hacked? Why even bother?

Even if that were remotely true, it would be gross waste of resources spent on a state with little impact on the electoral college.

Secondly, Dems have been getting crushed in WV since Big Dog's reelection in '96. Were those elections, Dubya's first run and forward, all rigged?

Face it. Jebus and Fux News are the reasons why WV votes to screw itself harder every election cycle. One of the worst K-12 systems in the country certainly helps the propaganda take hold.

[underpants]

4. My mom's family is from WV. We've just poured money into it

and it doesn’t seem to have done much good.
Sen. Byrd was the champion of his home state.

As I understand it:
Free healthcare for every child until the age of 5 regardless of income
Anyone with a B average or better is guaranteed acceptance into public colleges (Marshall and WVU)
Etc.

[Norrrm]

5. Promises made. Promises kept. Good thing Trump got all those coal jobs back, eh?

??? Oh, yeah!

[Martin Eden]

6. A non-native species of large cat has been seen in great numbers in impoverished communities in rural West Virginia

Detailed eyewitness accounts are hard to come by, as these leopards are apparently eating the faces of their victims.

[Blumancru]

7. I am well acquainted with WV. There is nothing you can do with, for, or about WV.

You will never find a place that will fight harder for its right to be last in everything good and first in everything bad.
It is a waste of time and money to try to help it.
Summers are very nice there, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting is very very good. I hope they save Mountain Stage, but the rest of that state you can throw in a crick.
Notice they never threaten to secede. The rest of the country might take them up on it.

[mountain grammy]

11. All true and so sad

Such a beautiful state. I love Wheeling. So interesting

[Blumancru]

13. I lived in Wheeling for a year in the 1970s

Used to jog across the beautiful old Roebling suspension bridge from Wheeling Island over to the area by Capitol City Music Hall.
The Northern Panhandle is very different from the rest of WV. It is more like Pittsburgh or Youngstown Ohio.
People don’t generally realize that the Confederacy stretched almost to the Great Lakes for a brief period.

[mountain grammy]

14. That bridge was closed for renovations

last time we stayed there... It's a beauty! I want to go back and see it restored.

[paleotn]

8. They don't want employment. They want to hate brown people!

And blame others for the fact that WV is an economic basket case.

[Blumancru]

15. Very true. They never realize that the interests of poor white people and poor brown people are the same.

If they ever realized that it would be the end of RW influence. That’s why that wedge is a vital part of MAGA.

[70sEraVet]

12. Joe never saw America as 'red' and 'blue' states.

He worked hard to make EVERBODY'S lives better, regardless of how they voted! That's what being a patriot is.