Nuclear power plants aren’t likely to occupy part of West Virginia’s landscape, but a tiny article in a state law effectively shuts the door on such energy and Gov. Joe Manchin sees this as senseless.

Manchin says he has no problem with putting nuclear power in his portfolio on renewable and alternative sources in a land where coal has been king for more than a century.

“We run our whole Defense Department on nuclear and we’re scared to death,” Manchin told The Register-Herald editorial board last week. “I don’t have a bit of problem looking at nuclear.”

While the reality seems to suggest no such plants would locate here, Manchin says lawmakers need to examine the article in state code that, in effect, prevents nuclear investors from looking at West Virginia.

Last week, Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, touted a bill that would remove the ban, since the law now says no such plant can operate until there is a national dump site to accommodate radioactive waste.

His bill, however, was dished off to a subcommittee of the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee after some members voiced concerns about the safety of West Virginia residents.

“We can’t sit here and say we need everything in the mix but we can’t talk about nuclear in West Virginia,” the governor said. “That doesn’t make sense. You need to look at everything. You need to look at our best use of abandoned mine lands.”

If an operation wants to engage in surface or mountaintop mining, Manchin says, a plan must be in the works with renewable or alternative fuels in mind — wind, solar or an agriculture enterprise with soy or switchgrass convertible into biofuel and diesel.

“You’d better give me something,” he said.

Half of America’s electricity comes from coal, and Manchin has set some benchmarks for the Legislature for moving into other sources of energy.

By 2015, he wants 10 percent derived from alternative or renewable sources. By 2025, the threshold climbs to 25 percent.

“We provide more reasonable energy at a more reasonable cost than any place in the nation,” he said. “I just think we can do it much better.”

Manchin says the coal industry is under siege, “under attack by everybody, but everybody needs what we have.”

“Right now, in southern West Virginia, you’re riding the cycle of the metallurgical market,” he said.

“There’s nothing to stabilize or add value to it. The northern end is not. It’s about higher sulfur seam coal. You have a higher quality, metallurgical coal here and you’re riding the metals commodities market right now.”

Economic needs and environmental concerns can be accommodated, the governor insisted.

“I think there is,” he replied when asked if a balance is possible, “when you’re talking to true environmentalists. When you’re talking to obstructionists, there’s not.

“When you’re talking to an environmentalist, you can find a way to balance it out. You really can. They’ll work with you.”

In one instance, he told of a Randolph County quarry project that, on first design, threatened a viewshed, but the environmentalists hired their own engineers and proved the installation could be located on the back side with another slope and dip, so both sides were placated.

“Those are environmentalists,” Manchin said.

Others merely want to simply change laws and the rules, and often such groups dog him around the Capitol, videocams in hand, filming every scene and recording every word, the governor said.

“They come in and sit and lay around the Capitol,” he said. “I understand that. They have a camera going around. I’ve been through all of that. We just respectfully disagree. Nothing wrong with that.”

Manchin was apprised of a recent demonstration by Coal River Mountain Watch at a planned Massey mountaintop project, and subsequent trespassing arrests revealed many came from other states.

“They’re on a cause and I understand that,” he said. “It’s a passion. God love them. If you don’t have any passion in this world, you don’t have anything. They bring them in (from out of state). Probably no different than the ’60s. We were all looking for something to do and raise heck about and going somewhere and doing something.”

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com