Sen. Obama has been and remains a tremendous supporter of coal and the future of coal.
~ Cecil E. Roberts, President, United Mine Workers, Nov. 2, 2008
The NationalJournal reports that the United Coal Miners will sit out the 2012 presidential election. They are not supporting Romney but the real story here is that they are NOT supporting Obama for whom they came out full throttle in 2008. The coal miners union is led by democrats, a number of their members holding elective office as democrats.
In 2008, Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association (OCA)*, had a perspective quite different from the union’s. He issued the following statement:
“Regardless of the timing or method of the release of these remarks, the message from the Democratic candidate for President could not be clearer: the Obama-Biden ticket spells disaster for America’s coal industry and the tens of thousands of Americans who work in it.
“These undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from Senator Obama like ‘I haven’t been some coal booster’ and ‘if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them’ are extraordinarily misguided.
“It’s evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state’s voters.
“Senator Obama has revealed himself to be nothing more than a short- sighted, inexperienced politician willing to say anything to get a vote. But today, the nation’s coal industry and those who support it have a better understanding of his true mission, to ‘bankrupt’ our industry, put tens of thousands out of work and cause unprecedented increases in electricity prices.
“In addition to providing an affordable, reliable source of low-cost electricity, domestic coal holds the key to our nation’s long-term energy security – a goal that cannot be overlooked during this time of international instability and economic uncertainty.
“Few policy areas are more important to our economic future than energy issues. As voters head to the polls tomorrow, it is essential they remember that access to reliable, affordable, domestic energy supplies is essential to economic growth and stability.”
In 2008, diehard Democrat Jay Rockefeller put his own ideology before the welfare of his state when he said “Barack Obama has been very clear with me and with you on his plan for clean coal – and it’s the most aggressive plan in support of clean coal we’ve seen from any presidential candidate. The idea that the McCain/Palin campaign is alleging the day before the election that Barack Obama’s commitment to coal is anything but solid is absolutely ridiculous. This is exactly the kind of deceptive politicking voters are fed up with.”
Did Jay and the union not see the video:
What will it take for the union to understand what is happening here? Obama is anti-coal and anti-all-fossil-fuels.
The coal miners’ union won’t have to worry about salary and benefits under Obama, they won’t have jobs.
Obama is currently putting in rules via the EPA that will destroy all coal plants. Read more at The beginning of the end for all coal-powered plants.
* The Ohio Coal Association (OCA) is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of Ohio’s underground and surface coal mining producers. They represent nearly 40 coal producing companies and more than 50 Associate Members, including suppliers and consultants to the mining industry, coal sales agents and brokers and allied industries.
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