On Tuesday's The Lead with Jake Tapper on CNN, the show ran a report whining that West Virginia residents are hurt by climate change, but that, in spite of this, are opposed to enacting radical, draconian government environmental regulations. Of course, it all came back to complaining over the state's moderate Democratic Senator, Joe Manchin, also opposing such costly policies proposed in massive left-wing legislation on Capitol Hill.
As the report blamed recent flooding in the state on global warming caused by fossil fuels, data finding that there has not been an overall increase in world flooding in recent years was ignored.
Host Jake Tapper introduced the report by treating it as a fact that the climate change issue is endangering West Virginia residents and making their weather worse:
Now, from Virginia to West Virginia, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin's home state. Manchin today saying, "No way," to yet another climate change provision in the President's sweeping social programs package. Back home in West Virginia, climate change has become a growing threat to West Virginians.
Setting up her pre-recorded piece, correspondent Rene Marsh lamented that Senator Manchin is reflecting the views of his constituents who are against the Joe Biden administration's push for more regulations:
Well, what I learned, Jake, is that it's not just Senator Manchin who doesn't want quick and aggressive action when it comes to climate change -- it's many of his own constituents who in real time are feeling the impacts of climate change. So we traveled there to peel back the layers and figure out just why climate change is so complicated in that state.
Marsh then recounted record flooding that has hit the state in recent years, and hyped dire predictions about the future: "And this past summer, the hard-hit state saw more flooding from raging deadly floods to red drought, West Virginians over the past few years have faced weather whiplash, and scientists predict it will get worse."
After noting some of the devastation, she complained, "yet Senator Joe Manchin is blocking the most aggressive climate change legislation in U.S. history." Marsh noted Manchin's ties to the fossil fuel industry, and was then seen badgering the president of the West Virginia Coal Association, accusing his trade of being partly to blame for the state's suffering: "Will you be okay knowing that West Virginia will continue to get hit by severe flooding (editing jump) because we as a country failed to curb greenhouse gases?"
Marsh did not inform viewers that data from recent years casts doubt on whether there is a change in climate that is trending toward making flooding worse since there is not a general increase in such activity across the world on average.
The piece ended with a soundbite of West Virginia University professor Nicholas Zegre, who found irony in the state's residents resisting changes even though they would allegedly suffer more in the future in the absence of new regulations: "Climate change is so complicated here in West Virginia because West Virginians perceive it as a direct attack on their livelihoods. But it's also interesting, too, that inaction of our business leaders and inaction of our decision makers is also a direct attack on livelihoods."
The report also ran on the same day's Don Lemon Tonight with the eponymous host declaring that the state "is getting hit hard by the climate crisis."
This environmental alarmist propaganda on CNN's The Lead was funded in part by T Mobile. Their contact information is linked.
Complete transcript follows:
CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper
October 19, 2021
5:39 p.m. Eastern
JAKE TAPPER: Now, from Virginia to West Virginia, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin's home state. Manchin today saying, "No way," to yet another climate change provision in the President's sweeping social programs package. Back home in West Virginia, climate change has become a growing threat to West Virginians. CNN's Rene Marsh joins me now live. And, Rene, you traveled to West Virginia this week. What did you learn from his constituents?
RENE MARSH: Well, what I learned, Jake, is that it's not just Senator Manchin who doesn't want quick and aggressive action when it comes to climate change -- it's many of his own constituents who in real time are feeling the impacts of climate change. So we traveled there to peel back the layers and figure out just why climate change is so complicated in that state.
AUDIO OF 911 CALL #!: Our house is about to fall, and there's a set of babies here and 1-2-3-4-5 adults.
AUDIO OF 911 CALL #2: We're in the car, and the car's flooding full of water.
MARSH: Flood waters, submerged people, cars and homes, dubbed the "thousand-year flood," in Clendening, West Virginia, almost wiped off the map in 2016. And this past summer, the hard-hit state saw more flooding from raging deadly floods to red drought, West Virginians over the past few years have faced weather whiplash, and scientists predict it will get worse. Jimmy Rader, a retired Iraq War veteran, survived the deadly 2016 West Virginia flooding, but his home did not. Five years later, he is still rebuilding. In the meantime, he, his wife and three dogs call this camper home.
JIMMY RADER, FLOODING SURVIVOR: It's really tough with my PTSD being in such tight quarters.
MARSH: Look around the small West Virginia town of Clendening, and it's still without a grocery store, bank and an elementary school, yet Senator Joe Manchin is blocking the most aggressive climate change legislation in U.S. history. This neighborhood lost safe access to their homes after the 2016 flood weakened the foundation of this bridge and rusted it out. If someone dialed 911, could not come across this bridge.
RADER: Yeah, they'd be afraid they wouldn't make it, and the bridge might collapse.
MARSH: This bridge is Connie Richard's lifeline to everyday life, including medical care.
CONNIE RICHARD, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: You just keep moving along and pray you get to the other side.
MARSH: But even in the face of severe weather and its costly destruction, neither Rader nor Richard blame climate change.
RADER: I'm not buying into the whole climate change thing.
MARSH: So if somebody said, "In order to make sure a flood like this never hits your community again -- we need to get rid of coal," what would you say?
RICHARD: Let if flood again.
MARSH: In the second largest coal-producing state in the nation, climate change is a complicated issue. Senator Joe Manchin, one of the key lawmakers blocking the most aggressive parts of climate legislation that would drastically curb greenhouse emissions linked to climate change, is currently ranked the top congressional recipient of campaign donations from the coal mining and fossil fuel industry. Manchin's personal investment in Enersystems -- a coal brokerage company he founded and later put in a blind trust -- is valued between one and five million dollars.
MARSH (speaking with West Virginia Coal Association president Chris Hamilton): Will you be okay knowing that West Virginia will continue to get hit by severe flooding (editing jump) because we as a country failed to curb greenhouse gases?
CHRIS HAMILTON, WEST VIRGINIA COAL ASSOCIATION: I think the premise is filled with malarkey -- I really do. Now, again, you know, we're sensitive to the fact that, if we're contributing toward climate change, but you can't blame every undesirable weather results on West Virginia coal. We don't have serious droughts here. We don't have serious fires here. We have a little bit of flooding.
MARSH: The governor ordered a state of emergency because there were multiple counties going through droughts, and almost every county in West Virginia has seen massive flooding.
HAMILTON: But it's very, very difficult to blame that on coal because (editing jump) again we've cleaned up every airborne constituent. And, to the extent we're contributing towards greenhouse gases, we're doing everything imaginable and humanly possible.
MARSH: Senator Manchin echoed this Monday.
MANCHIN: I want to make sure we have reliable power. We have basically cleaned up the environment more than any other time in the history of this world.
MARSH: West Virginia University professor Nicholas Zegre has studied the state and climate change for 11 years. He says breaking through the complexity of the issue feels impossible.
NICHOLAS ZEGRE, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: Climate change is so complicated here in West Virginia because West Virginians perceive it as a direct attack on their livelihoods. But it's also interesting, too, that inaction of our business leaders and inaction of our decision makers is also a direct attack on livelihoods.
MARSH (live in studio): Now, coal -- the bottom line is coal is very expensive, there are cheaper energy sources, and the industry is shedding jobs because of automation, Jake, but they are hanging on to this dying industry. Many say the reason for that is simply because of undiversified economy in West Virginia. So, you know, even despite the impact of climate change, you heard the people in that piece say, "Let if flood."
TAPPER: "Let if flood." Again, that was remarkable. Rene Marsh, excellent reporting, and it's so good to have you back.
