Obama Promises to Bankrupt Coal Industry

A report released just this weekend of a January, 2008 interview with the San Fransisco Chronicle quotes Senator Obama on his plans for the coal industry. “… if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” Obama told the Chronicle in January. “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." For those that are not aware, coal is the most abundant natural resource in the United States. America's coal has been compared to Saudi Arabia's oil. We will have to wait and see how this affects some major swing states in this election. West Virginia, Ohio, Colorado and especially Pennsylvania are the states in play that have thousands of jobs in the coal industry. Obama also explained his energy policy as being no "booster" of coal and that he will use "price signals" to control America's energy use. Read that as you paying a lot more for the energy you use. Senator McCain tried to capitalize on the remarks yesterday, but many republican strategists feel that it came to light too late in the campaign to make much of a difference.