The White House on Saturday issued a non-apology for President Joe Biden after he made remarks in California about shutting down coal power plants.
“The President’s remarks yesterday have been twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a 322-word statement trying to excuse the president’s comments.
During his speech in San Diego about promoting clean energy, Biden could not have been more clear about his desire to shut down coal-fired power plants.
Speaking about refitting coal plants to generate electricity from wind and solar, Biden boasted they could use the same transmission lines.
“We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar,” he said.
Biden also claimed that coal-powered plants were not reliable.
“No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant. So it’s going to become a wind generation,” Biden said.
The president also claimed that generating power from green energy sources was more affordable.
“Folks, it’s also now cheaper to generate electricity from wind and solar than it is from coal and oil,” he said. “Literally cheaper. Not a joke.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) appeared to be furious at the president, describing the remarks as “offensive and divorced from reality” in a statement.
“Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believe he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure,” Manchin said in a statement.
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