The war on coal and Byrd droppings on cap and trade

Once an opponent of the national energy tax, better known as cap and trade, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) has essentially come out for it. In an op-ed, Byrd writes:

To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem. To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say "deal me out." West Virginia would be much smarter to stay at the table.

That piece was released yesterday. But that "mounting science" has been debunked since the Climategate scandal broke last month.

As for cap and trade, almost every elected official in West Virginia, including many Democrats, oppose it.

Here's what the Department of Energy says about coal:

Coal is one of the true measures of the energy strength of the United States. One quarter of the world's coal reserves are found within the United States, and the energy content of the nation's coal resources exceeds that 'electric power industry, supplying more than half the electricity consumed by Americans.

But there is a war on coal, led by Democrats, despite gestures of friendliness, as Brian Faughan writes:

Coal is a critical energy source and an important part of the economy in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania. Candidate Biden famously evoked his own background as a 'hard coal miner' to reassure miners that their livelihood would be protected under an Obama administration. The war on coal is one broken promise that's getting less attention than it deserves. And it may cost Democrats a number of races in the affected coal regions.

Biden isn't the only duplicitous Dem on coal, as Jim Muir wrote in the Southern Illinoisan in 2005:

As The Candidate you will remember the many times Obama traipsed through Southern Illinois in his bid to become a U.S. senator. In fact, I remember last April when The Candidate Obama, accompanied by The Elected Official Dick Durbin, visited the Southern Illinois University Coal Research Park in Carterville and made promise after promise about his commitment to help Southern Illinois residents secure jobs by doing all he could to revive the dying coal industry.

Yes, it was quite a day for The Candidate Obama in Carterville, the marching bands, smiling hangers-on and glad-handing politicians.

But sadly, that was then and this is now. In other words, that was The Candidate Obama, and now The Elected Official Obama seems to have forgotten that April day last year.

Oh he forgot it, that's for sure.

But don't forget this fact: Half of our electricity is derived from coal.

Do you want to pay more for electricity? Are you skeptical of man-made global warming, post-Climategate?

Technorati tags: Democrats politics Obama Barack Obama coal environment energy Illinois Biden cap and trade West Virginia Robert Byrd