"So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it's just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted." Barack Obama, January, 2008,Obama's war on coal was dealt a defeat last month when Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) passed away. Although the Mountain State is a major coal-producing and consuming state, Byrd was a supporter of cap and trade, a scheme that will unnaturally drive up energy prices and leave Americans with less disposable income. Oh, it will also lead to hundreds of thousand if not millions of job losses. To replace those jobs, Obama counters, the new "green economy" will come to the rescue. Spain went down that route, it was a debacle, and Obama no longer touts the Spanish model when hawking "green jobs."
Big Government reads the fossilized coal leaves and finds that Byrd's death will probably takes one pro-cap and trade vote away--because West Virginia's Democratic governor says he will choose a successor who shares the beliefs of most of the residents of his state--most of whom detest cap and trade.
Even pro cap and trade Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who also represents a coal-producing and consuming state, agrees that cap and trade has been dealt a setback. "It is a tougher road, believe me," he said Monday. "A 58-vote majority is not as good as a 59-vote majority."
Durbin, who nominally represents me in the Senate, waved "buh-bye" to voting needs of his constituents years ago.
Obama has also declared war on coal's liquid cousin, oil. His continuing bungling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill hasn't kept the president from this conflict. He created a commission to examine what went wrong with the BP well, composed mostly of anti-drilling advocates. But the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Big Government reports in a separate article, has approved an alternate panel, one not stacked with oil industry opponents. Unlike the president's commission, this one would have subpoena power.
Related post:
Obama's next "death star" laser focus on jobs: coal mining
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