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U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin speaks of hope for McDowell County

By GREG JORDAN

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph

KIMBALL, W.Va. — Hopes for what a new president’s administration could bring to southern West Virginia were the subject of a senator’s recent lunchtime stop at a McDowell County restaurant.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. stopped Nov. 22 at the Ya’Sou restaurant in Kimball to discuss local concerns and what he hopes the administration of the new president-elect, Donald Trump, could bring to the region. One issue Manchin discussed with local people filling the restaurant was the regulations impacting the coal industry.

Manchin said he believes Trump will address “frivolous” and “over-reaching” regulations that help neither the environment or the safety of coal miners. Too often, the regulations are based on policies created by one person, not by laws Congress has passed, he said. Trump can’t do anything unless he gives the EPA a major overhaul.

 “When you get one man calling the shots, it is not law. It’s policy,” Manchin said, adding, “I think he will try to get rid of that and I will work like the dickens to help him do it, too.”

 Another factor hindering the region’s economy is its drug problem. Drugs, particularly opioids such as pain medication, are a problem not only in McDowell County, but throughout the state and the nation, Manchin stated. The opioid epidemic impacts the job market because it reduces the number of people willing and able to work.

“People keep saying there’s no jobs, no jobs, no jobs,” Manchin said. “Let me just tell you, so far this year I’ve been to 14 jobs fairs. I did one in Logan (County). Everyone’s laid off, everyone’s mad. We hired 200 people that day. The biggest thing is we can’t find people to work. Can’t find people who want to work, are clean enough to work and don’t have a criminal record. That’s been our biggest problem.”

 West Virginia’s residents have a good work ethic, but there are many people who are addicted and need help, he said. More drug treatment centers are needed, and simply jailing the addicted during the last 20 or 30 years has not helped the overall problem. If an addicted person has not committed a violent crime or sexual offense, then “I’m not sure putting him in jail is the best thing to do. I think they should go right to a treatment center.”

Most addicts who successfully escape their drug habit stay in a treatment center for year, then mentor new program participants for another year, Manchin said. If they can complete the program they should be able to see their arresting officer and their judge about a one-time expungement of their record.

Besides helping to address the nation’s drug problem, the federal government needs to bring new highways and high-speed internet to McDowell County and the rest of the region, he stated. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had pledged to do both if elected.

“I got a lot of grief as you know because I had supported Hillary Clinton, which I knew not popular,” Manchin told his audience, adding he has known both Hillary and Bill Clinton for some time. He said that he had told the Clintons about how the coal industry’s decline and the regulations impacting it were hurting the state. Highways were another concern.

“We need the King Coal Highway. I said we can’t build that, but the federal government could build the King Coal Highway. We need the Coalfields Expressway to connect right down into it. We need high-speed internet. Without connectivity, we’re dead down here,” Manchin said.

Businesses are not going to come to southern West Virginia unless they have high-speed internet and transportation that lets them get products in and out of the region, Manchin said he told the Clintons. The region could also use a hydroelectric dam – mined-out coal land could provide locations – to create revenue and more tourism possibilities. 

“Give us something and we’ll make it. Southern West Virginia will survive. Without it, it’s going to have a hard time. And they committed to me that they would do that, so I said you commit to me to that and I’ll take the beating, and I took the beating. Everyone wants to know why and that’s why. I was in a position to maybe help,” Manchin said.

Local business people and officials spoke of projects needed, and available, in McDowell County. Eddie Asbury, an independent coal operator, said a section of property between the Indian Ridge Industrial Park and Wyoming County could be the site for a new roadway, but federal regulators have repeatedly held up the project.

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