Coal State Primary Season

[1]Over the last year, political candidates have danced circles around the coal issue without providing concrete solutions for how to deal with the problems of sustained coal use in this country.  Despite the fact that the coal industry has ravaged communities in Appalachia, caused decades of health problems, and accounts for 36% of our global warming pollution, candidates are still taking ambiguous stances on America’s least efficient fossil fuel. Then again, next on on the campaign trail is WV, KT, and PA - #s 2, 3, and 4 in the nation respectively for coal production.

Last Week, WV Public Radio asked Hillary Clinton what she thought about mountaintop removal coal mining [2], a process by which mountains are leveled, communities are displaced, and water and air are contaminated for the sake of extracting coal at very low cost. Hillary replied colloquially: "you know, maybe there’s a way to recover those mountains," (listen here [3]).  Of course when you compare her comments to her platform, you hear a different tune: "coal-fired power plants are the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and are responsible for emissions of mercury and other dangerous pollutants.  Hillary understands that continuing to build new coal plants in the same way that we have in the past will make it extremely difficult to meet our climate change goals." 

Some of you may remember Barack Obama’s flirtation with liquid coal [4] this spring.  As a senator from  coal-laden Illinois, Barack has been careful not to come down hard on coal throughout his career. However, thanks to grassroots pressure from folks like you, this spring Barack reversed his policy, and said NO to liquid coal. He went on to announce a bold climate plan this fall [5], in conjunction with our fall Step It Up events, where communities across the country came together to unveil the 1 Sky solutions.

Now Barack is digging himself a coal-lined trench again. "We could be investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain,including new clean coal jobs," said Barack in WV last week. The Grist  [6] remarked:  "When coal jobs are green jobs, we don’t know what the world has come to."

On the other side of the isle, McCain has been standing beside big coal [7]’s attempts to scare America into reliance on domestic fossil fuels like coal. In Kansas, the site of a major coal battle [8], he was recently caught parroting the messages of the industry-funded astroturf [9] campaign to a local ABC news [7] station.

Yes, believe it or not, our political candidates are pandering to local audiences. However, in the face of a robust social movement strong enough to break the firm grip of old energy and create a new economy, pandering doesn’t stand a chance. We need to show our leaders that we are united behind the people of Appalachia, that we stand as 1 around principles of justice and equality more powerful than the coal industry.

Our message is clear: we as a nation cannot afford to invest in new coal plants — but we want more than that — we want an economy-wide transition with green jobs [10]where we need them the most. Skilled laborers in West Virginia shouldn’t have to suffer from layoffs while we subsidize to an out-of-date industry. We can create new jobs [11] that take advantage of new technology, and existing skills. We can unite communities around traditional values, and shed the "coal state" stigma that’s dominating politics as usual. Yes, we can.

If you want to hear more from our friends on the ground in coal country, check out Appalachian Voices, at www.ilovemountains.org [12]. Chances are, the coal used to power your home is in some way connected to leveled mountains. Check it out [13], and if you’ve got a local visit scheduled with one of our friends in Congress, be sure share what you learned.