By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The nation’s coal industry is reacting with shock to a newly released audio tape of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) telling a reporter his plan for putting severe financial penalties on coal-fired power plants that could essentially bankrupt them.
The audio, which is appearing on YouTube, contains a Jan. 17, 2008 interview with Obama and the San Francisco Chronicle. During the interview, Obama said:
“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,” the Democratic presidential candidate said. “I was the first to call for a hundred-percent auction on the cap-and-trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases that was emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted-down caps that are imposed every year.
“So if somebody wants to build a coal power plant, they can,” Obama concluded. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greeenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
The comments have aroused the ire of coal executives and workers in key battleground states such as Ohio, West Virginia, and Colorado.
The senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association called Obama’s comments “unbelievable.”
“His comments are unfortunate,” said Chris Hamilton on Nov. 2, “and really reflect a very uninformed voice and perspective to coal specifically and energy generally.”
Hamilton noted other times Obama and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden have made seemingly anti-coal statements.
“In Ohio recently, when Joe Biden said ‘not here’ about building coal-fired power plants — this is exactly what will happen,” Hamilton said.
“Financing won’t be directed here. It will all go aboard for plants elsewhere in the world. The United Sates is importing more coal today from Indonesia, South Africa and Colombia than we ever have.
“If we’re going to create a situation where coal-fired power plants are at that much of a disadvantage, there will be new ones built. But as Biden said, just not here.”
Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association (OCA), said “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. “
The Obama campaign has responded by saying the comments were taken out of context.
“The line they pulled out is in the context of cap and trade program,” a spokesperson for the campaign said. “The point Obama is making is that we need to transition from coal burning power plants built with old technology to plants built with advanced technologies — and that is exactly the action that will be incentivized under a cap and trade program.”
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