Palin Attacks Obama on Coal Production

[bijou]

...Obama said that under his proposal to cap greenhouse gases, energy suppliers would get incentives to develop technologies to reduce pollution and to use cleaner sources of power. “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” Obama said. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

Palin told supporters to listen to the audiotape. “You’re going to hear Sen. Obama talk about bankrupting the coal industry,” she said. The Alaska governor also pointed to comments that Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden made to an environmental activist, promising no more coal-fired power plants in America. Biden was videotaped, likely without his knowledge.

...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/02/palin-attacks-obama-on-coal-production/

[franksolich]

When's the Big Zero going to tax himself for all the hot air he's emitted?

If it's good enough for the coal industry, it's good enough for the Big Zero.

[Jim]

GO SARAH GO !

[djones520]

Isn't Pennslyvania a big coal state?  Smart Obama...  real fuggin smart.   

[Chris]

[DumbAss Tanker]

Coal thing could be big in PA, OH, and WV, making it an issue of whether it's more important to have a job or to fall in line with the union's official position.

Actually, though, this affects everything, since screwing over the coal industry will raise grid energy costs immensely and that gets cranked into EVERYTHING, and in an iterative way.  Not really enough time to get traction on it now, on the other hand what publicity it does get has leaves no time for an O-rebuttal.

Sen. McCaskill, noted witch and Obama flack, was on Fox this morning trying to do damage control and claiming there was no difference between McCain's plan and the Obamessiah's.  She was obviously lying, since her lips were moving and it was the highly-corrupt Claire McCaskill (who used the State Auditor position to shield her hubbie's crooked nursing home operation while auditing the shit out of his competitors and any State offices under GOP control).  A true statement would have been that both plans shared a similar control mechanism in the form of tradeable carbon credits, but the goals and means diverge quickly from that one basic similar starting point.  In toadying mind, as twisted on the output end by her lying tongue, that one point of commonality translates into "identical."   

[djones520]

I've noticed that they've been running the spin control by saying McCains plan will do the same thing.  CNN was running with that last night.

They refused to elaborate on McCains plan though, so most of the "uninformed" will just hear that McCain plans on doing the same thing, and this'll will become another dead issue.

[Thor]

What bugs me is just how long will it be before Obama's Cap & Trade comes down to telling the individual which vehicle they can drive, whether or not they can have a fireplace in their house, etc.

[DumbAss Tanker]

What bugs me is just how long will it be before Obama's Cap & Trade comes down to telling the individual which vehicle they can drive, whether or not they can have a fireplace in their house, etc.

I believe that stuff would be among those 'Unpopular' measures Plugs was carelessly talking about.

[JohnnyReb]

While we still have electricity I guess we all better study up on how to make stone tools.

[thundley4]

What bugs me is just how long will it be before Obama's Cap & Trade comes down to telling the individual which vehicle they can drive, whether or not they can have a fireplace in their house, etc.

IIRC , CaliFruitopia, or one of the big cities has already banned fireplaces in new construction houses. CaliFruitoia also proposed having thermostats regulated by the government.

[bijou]

What bugs me is just how long will it be before Obama's Cap & Trade comes down to telling the individual which vehicle they can drive, whether or not they can have a fireplace in their house, etc.

Not long

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10746125

Wood stoves banned on spare-air days in Bay Area
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/17/2008 09:50:54 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO—Air quality regulators are clamping down on wood burning stoves and fireplaces between November and February in the Bay area. ... more ...

[bijou]

Coal official calls Obama comments 'unbelievable'

Sunday, November 02, 2008

By Chris Dickerson (chris@wvrecord.com)

Obama
 
McCain
CHARLESTON - At least one state coal industry leader said he was shocked by comments Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made earlier this year concerning his plan to aggressively charge polluters for carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

"What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there," Obama said in a Jan. 17 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that was made public today on the Web site newsbusters.org, which calls itself "the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias." The story later was linked on The Drudge Report.
 ... According to the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training, the coal industry provides about 40,000 direct jobs in the state, including those for miners, mine contractors, coal preparation plant employees and mine supply company workers.

West Virginia is the second largest coal-producing state in the country behind Wyoming and accounts for about 15 percent of all coal production in the United States. The Mountain State leads the nation in underground coal production and leads the nation in coal exports with over 50 million tons shipped to 23 countries. West Virginia accounts for about half of U.S. coal exports.

In addition, the coal industry pays about $70 million in property taxes in the state annually, and the Coal Severance Tax adds about $214 million into West Virginia's economy. The coal industry payroll in the state is nearly $2 billion per year, and coal is responsible for more than $3.5 billion annually in the gross state product. ...

http://www.wvrecord.com/printer/article.asp?c=215679

[NHSparky]

Look at the map, and note how many major coal-generating plants are in swing states.

Smart, Obummer--really smart.

[JohnnyReb]

SO, where does the blue northeast and blue western states get their electricity?

...that's what I thought. They sponge off the others.

[Wretched Excess]

yep.  this was stupid is a really big way.

State 2007 Total % of Total U.S. Historical High Year
1 Wyoming 453,568 39.6% 453,568 2007
2 West Virginia 153,480 13.4% 176,157 1947
3 Kentucky 115,280 10.1% 173,322 1990
4 Pennsylvania 65,048 5.7% 277,377 1918
5 Montana 43,390 3.8% 43,390 2007
6 Texas 41,948 3.7% 55,755 1990
7 Colorado 36,384 3.2% 39,870 2004
8 Indiana 35,003 3.1% 37,555 1984
9 Illinois 32,445 2.8% 89,281 1918
10 North Dakota 29,606 2.6% 30,775 2003
11 Virginia 25,346 2.2% 46,917 1990
12 New Mexico 24,451 2.1% 29,618 2001
13 Utah 24,307 2.1% 27,507 1996
14 Ohio 22,575 2.0% 55,351 1970
15 Alabama 19,327 1.7% 29,030 1990

coal producing states (.pdf)

[Wretched Excess]

his website says the he is a clean coal advocate.

Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology.

Obama’s Department of Energy will enter into public private partnerships to develop five “first-of-a-kind” commercial scale coal-fired plants with clean carbon capture and sequestration technology.

[Wretched Excess]

coal officials all over the country are freaking out

Ohio Coal Association Says Obama Remarks Make It Clear: Obama Ticket Not Supportive of Coal

Last update: 10:42 a.m. EST Nov. 3, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov 03, 2008 /PRNewswire--USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association (OCA), today issued the following statement in response to just-released remarks from Senator Barack Obama about the nation's coal industry.

"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.

More

I don't think this particular organization endoresed either candidate for president, and you have to think that they feel pretty abused right now.

[NHSparky]

SO, where does the blue northeast and blue western states get their electricity?

...that's what I thought. They sponge off the others.

Yes and no.  Think of the west as a big "loop" going from the west coast up into Canada and back down through MT, WY, CO, NM, and back.  Typically during the winter months we ship power to the colder states and Canada, and during the summer months when hydro is kicking in the northwest and BC ship power down to CA/AZ, etc.

CA has a number of plants, even enough to generate sufficient power for themselves IN MOST cases, but not all.  A typical peak summer day will have ISO load at 46-48,000 MW, not including the munis which up that total for CA alone to around 60,000 MW peak.  But you're right in that most of the "conventional" generation on both coasts is not oil or coal, but rather gas, wind, etc.  When I worked for SCE, our coal plants (or at least the ones in which Edison had interests) were in NV, AZ, and NM.

[jtyangel]

I'm glad you posted that with a dispatch from Columbus, WE. Those comments are getting some airtime here and building a fair amount of resentment among the MANY individuals with ties to West Virginia in particular. They almost see it as an attack on their very heritage since coal mining is so intertwined in the landscape of that state and Ohio is littered with peeps who have ties there currently or in previous generations. The amount of people here who know someone, who have known someone, or who has kin to someone who works/worked in a coal mine is pretty substantial so the idea of putting out of business a, by recent standards with working class jobs being lost overseas, a very American industry that still substantially employs a lot of middle close folks for nothing more then UNPROVEN idealism isn't looked on too kindly. Hell, even working class peeps can understand the company moving to save a buck even if it pisses them off, but take his bread and butter away so a bunch of morons can sing kumbaya around their unproven fantasies and well....Just an observation. 

[Wretched Excess]

I think this misstep may keep ohio's 20 electoral votes republican, even with the ACORN voter fraud.  those comments should seriously move some numbers in OH, and with any luck at all, in PA, too.

[jtyangel]

I think this misstep may keep ohio's 20 electoral votes republican, even with the ACORN voter fraud.  those comments should seriously move some numbers in OH, and with any luck at all, in PA, too.

Well, it is tight anyway. Final dispatch poll yesterday had 52 O, 48 Mc, but I've seen some here that have McC favored on exit by 47 to O's 45..with several % undecided.

Plus, the one plus side with the ACORN thing is that Brunner and others know they are under a microscope. I think that alone may assure some good behavior out of them. They can no longer pull off what they were doing discreetly...sometimes that is all it takes to prevent such behavior in unethical types.

[Wretched Excess]

LOL!  get the headline.  and not only do they ignore the fact that the SFC let this story languish on their blog for almost a year, but CNN
claims that the fact that it's old means it's a non-story.  jeeez.    

Palin knocks Obama over months-old coal comments
MARIETTA, Ohio (CNN) – Campaigning in coal country just two days before the presidential election, Sarah Palin is highlighting an interview Barack Obama gave to the San Francisco Chronicle in January in which the Democrat suggested coal plants would be bankrupted by his cap-and-trade proposal.

Audio of Obama’s comments began bubbling up on major conservative blogs over the last 24 hours, and Palin wondered why voters were only now hearing about the remarks. The insinuation that the Chronicle had been hiding the coal comments from the public brought about shouts of “Liberal media!” from the crowd.

“Why is the audio tape just now surfacing?,” Palin asked. “This interview was given to San Francisco folks many, many months ago. You should have known about this, so that you would have better decision-making information as you go into the voting booth.”

More

[Wretched Excess]

you know, it occurs to me that he just isn't thinking this through.  if we can't use our own coal, and we can't use our own oil if it happens to be offshore, then he is going to have a few million seriously pissed off (and very cold) people on his hands in the winter of his first term.

[bijou]

inkyou know, it occurs to me that he just isn't thing this through.  if we can't use our own coal, and we can't use our own oil if it happens to be offshore, then he is going to have a few million seriously pissed off (and very cold) people on his hands in the winter of his first term.

If socialists thought things through they wouldn't be socialists.