Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign event at the American Energy Corporation, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012, in Beallsville, Ohio. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
CHARLESTON, WV — “Fresh from Wednesday night’s debate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is headed back to coal country. He’s scheduled to visit southwest Virginia tomorrow for an event at Carter Machinery in Abingdon.
Meanwhile, there’s been a lot of media coverage of the back-and-forth between the campaigns about coal, so I thought we would just run through some of the more interesting examples.
…The problem with both camps’ repeated avowals of love for coal is they’re reinforcing the mistaken notion that the good times would roll if only Washington had enough coal lovers to turn back the clock on environmental regulation.
Appalachian coal’s problems are much deeper and market-rooted than that, including depleted reserves and competition from cheaper natural gas.
Political campaigns are about more than winning; they’re about governing and leading. You can’t build a sound future by misrepresenting the present.”
— Ken Ward, Jr., Coal Tattoo
