A bit more on fossil fuels and West Virginia. The thing that always strikes me is that the state stopped being a coal-fueled economy a *long* time ago. Here's the share of coal mining in total compensation (a better measure than share of GDP, as I'll explain) 1/ 
Joe Manchin began his political career in the state legislature in 1982; at that point coal was responsible for 16 percent of payrolls. But it plunged in the years that followed, thanks to strip-mined coal in Wyoming and automation 2/
So King Coal had been dethroned a generation ago. It's fallen even further since, but the big decline is far in the past 3/
What about fracking? It's pretty big business — but it's very capital-intensive, and employs remarkably few people. Here are shares of state GDP and compensation in 2019 4/
And it's not clear why WV residents should care about returns to fracking capital, which presumably accrue mainly to wealthy out-of-state investors. When it comes to wages, fracked oil and gas are de minimis 5/
At this point fossil fuels loom much larger in WV's imagination than they do in the state's real economy 6/
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
