Boom to bubble?

Wetzel County WV, vintage 2012

Interesting news about natural gas lately. First, there was this item from the NY Times about how despite all the hoopla, fracking may turn out to be more of a financial bubble rather than a boom. This won't come as a shock to industry critics and those concerned about its environmental impact. Or to anyone familiar with the history of extractive industries in Appalachia for the last 100 years.

Then there's this: Wetzel County WV has been ground zero for the new gas boom for the last several years, with tons of economic activity and hotel rooms full of gas workers with out of state plates. The latest is that Wetzel has been added to the Appalachian Regional Commission's list of distressed counties.

Golly, could that mean industry promises of universal prosperity might not come true? Holy Appalachian resource curse, Batman!

Whatever happened to gratitude?

You might think that President Trump, after receiving overwhelming support from West Virginia and much of Appalachia, would show the region a little love in his proposed federal budget.

That didn't happen. Instead, the president proposed massive cuts that would hit West Virginia and the Appalachian region harder than the rest of the country.

Among the programs on the chopping block are SNAP, which provides basic food security to over 340,000 West Virginians, about one in five. Many of those who receive these benefits are working people in low wage jobs - and these SNAP dollars are spent in local businesses, supporting thousands of jobs.

Then there's WIC, a nutrition assistance program that helps pregnant and nursing women as well as young children and over half of the nation's infants.

The highly successful Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers almost 35,000 West Virginia children, is also targeted. Thanks to CHIP, West Virginia has become a national leader in insuring children, with a coverage rate of around 97 percent. That could be undone.

There are also threats to low income energy assistance, disability benefits, Meals on Wheels for seniors, and temporary assistance to needy families.

One cut that seems particularly unsportsmanlike is the proposed elimination of the Appalachian Regional Commission, which has supported infrastructure and economic development projects in the region since its establishment in 1965.

You could almost view the other cuts as generic indifference to or contempt of disadvantaged people all over the nation, but the ARC hit seems like a deliberate and targeted slap in the face.

To his credit, Republican U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins came out strong against the Trump budget in May. In his statement he said:

"While I appreciate the president's aim to cut wasteful spending, this budget goes too far in critical areas for West Virginia. The proposed cuts to our safety net programs, including Medicaid and SNAP, would hurt too many of our state's most vulnerable citizens, and I cannot support this budget proposal.

"The budget also proposes eliminating programs crucial to West Virginia's economic development and diversification - the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Economic Development Administration. We need to do more to attract new industries to our coalfields and invest in our infrastructure, and these two programs have a track record of success in West Virginia."

That's the good news.

The bad news is that the budget resolution passed by House Republicans does much of the same thing. The end result would be increasing hardship and poverty, growing inequality, weakened investments in our nation's future and a shift of costs to already hard-pressed states.

And the hidden agenda behind this kind of slash-and-burn approach to the federal budget is to provide yet more tax cuts for the rich, a zombie-like failed policy that keeps coming back from the dead.

The dangers of these disastrous cuts being fast-tracked through Congress are real. We need Congressman Jenkins and his colleagues to stay the course and continue to fight for a budget that reflects our needs and values.

(Note: this appeared as an op-ed in the Huntington Herald Dispatch on Sunday.)

"Slash and burn"

When people outside West Virginia ask me about Senator Joe Manchin, I usually say that some days are better than others. (My wife says that about me most days.) Today is one of his better days.

In response to the Trump administration's proposed budget, which slashes programs that help working people and hits Appalachia the hardest while cutting taxes for the very rich, Manchin criticized a "slash and burn" approach that "lacks compassion."

From MetroNews,

“It’s just very demoralizing to see this type of budget being out,” Manchin said. “Every state is going to be affected, there’s not one state that’s going to be spared on this.”

West Virginia, he said, would take an especially hard hit since so many Mountain State residents depend on federal programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women-Infants-Children (WIC), Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and student loans...

 “You name it and, by golly, we get hit because there’s so much of this that affects every part of our state,” Manchin said.

The budget would also zero out funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission, which has had a huge positive impact on the region, as independent research by WVU and others have shown. Given its record of accomplishment, it's no surprise that the ARC has some pretty powerful Republican supporters, including senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.

Some other reactions to the proposed federal budget have warned that, if implemented, it would increase hunger, poverty and ill-health and lead to a new gilded age.

Considering the support candidate Trump received from this region, there doesn't seem to be a lot of gratitude in evidence.