Obama Told Paper He Will Intentionally Bankrupt The Coal Industry – Update: In Same Interview Obama Says He Will Cause Energy Prices To Skyrocket

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According to this chart there are 20+ States that have a coal industry:


agsmmwhere_01map.gif

Including Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Indiana.

The coal industry as a whole has been worried about the downturn in new coal plants:

Others call the growing resistance to coal power worrying.

“It is a crisis for us because what we are not really focusing on is: Where is the electricity we need for the next 50 years going to come from?” said Gregory Boyce, chairman of Peabody Energy, at a “clean tech” conference recently in Palm Springs, Calif. “We view it as short-term and very unfortunate because we need to continue to build these new coal plants that are at least 15 to 20 percent more carbon-efficient than the plants they replace while we continue to work on technologies for the next generation of plants that are carbon-capture ready or that capture carbon and store it.”

With US energy demand growing about 1.2 percent a year, big utilities must get energy from somewhere.

~~~

Some in the power industry also say gas-fired turbines are less reliable when used for “base load” power the turbines that spin day and night and not just for peak loads.

“There’s a serious crunch with respect to having enough generating capacity coming in the next 10 years,” says Rick Sergel, chief executive officer of North American Electric Reliability Corp., which serves the federal government as chief overseer of the US electric grid. “If coal doesn’t play its role, it’s going to be a major issue.”

~~~

“If they don’t start building coal plants, it’s going to be an economic prosperity problem for the country,” says Richard Storm, CEO of Storm Technologies, an Albemarle, N.C., company that specializes in optimizing coal-fired power plants. “We need coal. Coal is a national treasure.”

and now they have even more reason to be worried: (h/t Gateway Pundit)

The transcript of the interview:

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

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.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases 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 being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; 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.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It’s just that it will bankrupt them.”

That was audio from an interview he gave to the San Francisco Chronicle. Funny thing is, the story written based off that interview did not include ANYTHING about the bankrupting of the coal industry.

Shocker!

And going along for the ride is the United Mine Workers Of America who say that “Barack Obama is on record supporting the development of clean coal technology in the United States.”

This coal industry union is fully behind Barack:

We got all of our local presidents to sign letters to the nearly 6,000 pensioners in Pennsylvania in support of Barack Obama. We are leafleting at every mine and non-mine organized unit and our members are taking part in phone banks and labor walks regularly….

But what will this unions response be to Barack’s bankruptcy plan for the coal industry? Will they still bow at the alter of the one?

How could they not know what was in store for their industry? He is on record as saying he wants to change the behavior of the American people by raising the cost of fuel and power prices:

“It’s not going to be painless” he says. Your damn right it’s not. Bankrupting an industry and raising the costs for everyday items needed by the people of this country is going to hurt quite a bit.

In the end it’s not going to be just the coal industry he bankrupts…it will be the country as a whole.

UPDATE


Transcript:

The problem is not technical, uh, and the problem is not mastery of the legislative intricacies of Washington. The problem is, uh, can you get the American people to say, “This is really important,” and force their representatives to do the right thing? That requires mobilizing a citizenry. That requires them understanding what is at stake. Uh, and climate change is a great example.

You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.

They — you — you can already see what the arguments will be during the general election. People will say, “Ah, Obama and Al Gore, these folks, they’re going to destroy the economy, this is going to cost us eight trillion dollars,” or whatever their number is. Um, if you can’t persuade the American people that yes, there is going to be some increase in electricity rates on the front end, but that over the long term, because of combinations of more efficient energy usage, changing lightbulbs and more efficient appliance, but also technology improving how we can produce clean energy, the economy would benefit.

If we can’t make that argument persuasively enough, you — you, uh, can be Lyndon Johnson, you can be the master of Washington. You’re not going to get that done.

As if our economy needs an increase of energy costs right now. The rise of oil caused havoc with our economy earlier this year. What he is talking about will shred this economy and make the 70’s look like a golden age.

UPDATE

Good time to bring this up again?

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This is not the same doug, Craig. Think of this as Doug 2… but evidently similar in thinking.

doug2….

Point One: Below is the full quote

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

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.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases 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 being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; 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.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I’ve said with respect to coal, I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a (sic) ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It’s just that it will bankrupt them.

Obama’s “we” means him, his admin, along with Congress. Convenient that the Chronicle opted not to print an iota of Obama’s coal comments in their original article 9-10 months ago.

~~~

Which brings me to Point Two: What failed education system do you hail from that makes you believe Obama can set cap and trade regulations that govern China…?? … who’s busy building coal factories, BTW….

So perhaps you are not part of “the other 50% of the country [that] is flaming crazy”, but you are most certainly part of the 50% of the country that is educationally clueless.

Craig, I stumbled across this and thought of you.

Hopefully the Thread Nanny won’t notice that I’ve veered TOTALLY off the topic.

Ducks and runs.

Roll the tape:

Official thread nanny weighing in here, Aye… LOL

Aye Chihuahua,

YESSSS! This is how stupid Canada is. What do you want; we had Liberals governing this country for decades and decades. But, hopefully now we have Stephen Harper who is a Conservative Prime Minister, and I believe he will turn this country upside down. I sure hope he does. But you should see the Province of Quebec; it is so liberal it is sickening. Canada looks like a conservative country compared to Quebec.

If McCain wins, I might think of moving to the States. Seriously! Unless Stephen Harper can bring some sense in Canada, then I would move to Alberta or Ontario.

@RCLC: Nice try putting up an 3 year old video. Nice talking points from Think Progress. The obvious non-partisan hacks they are.

Did you get them straight from the Obama camp, oh no, they were talking about China’ coal production. Which is it???

Need to get your talking points straight there.

Where do they get these people from, high school?????

And a Daily Kos propaganda video no less. That’s a hillariously dumb last ditch effort. LOL.

Loved the E>L>I>T>E> Canada program vid though. Should have showed that at the DNC Convention.

Just decided to look back from 2014 to see how dumb you all looked