COLUMBUS — “As he assailed a coal-powered plant in 2003 for failing to meet his state’s clean-air standards, then-Gov. Mitt Romney said Massachusetts was under siege from ‘acid rain and air pollution from the Midwest’ and that it ‘would be wrong, even hypocritical’ not to pursue upgrades to ‘antiquated coal combustion technologies.’
Now, nine years later, Romney, the GOP presidential nominee, is using Midwest factories from Ohio that will close rather than meet federal emissions standards as examples of President Barack Obama’s ‘war on coal.’
Coal is a key component of Romney’s political strategy in Ohio, evidenced by his August campaign stop at a Beallsville coal mine and the two new TV ads he’s airing in eastern Ohio that depict Obama’s policies as ruinous for the industry. To detract from that narrative, the Obama campaign often points to Romney’s 2003 news conference outside the PG&E Salem Harbor plant at which he said ‘that plant kills people.’”
— Joe Vardon, Columbus Dispatch
