By Kishori Krishnan Exclusive To Coal Investing News Share

They are tough words from a serious supporter of the US President. Senator Jay Rockefeller has come out against US President Obama’s contentions on coal, the source of half the United States electricity supply and a significant source of jobs in Rockefeller’s state.

“We met with [Obama] yesterday and he said he was for clean coal and he says it in his speeches, but he doesn’t say it in here,” Rockefeller said, referring to the budget proposal.

“He doesn’t say it in the actions of [EPA Administrator] Lisa Jackson. And he doesn’t say it in the minds of my own people. And he’s beginning to not be believable to me,” Rockefeller added.

Even as oil companies argue that many of the bills that have come before Congress place an unfair burden on motor fuels and offer too many concessions to coal, Obama’s budget, unveiled earlier this month, is clearly set to scale back tax breaks and other incentives for domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal.

Not too happy with the president’s budget, West Virginia’s junior Senator Jay Rockefeller has decided to go to town with his version. His contention: The budget would delete the $2.3 billion in tax breaks for the coal industry which would culminate in a reduction in coal production.

Rockefeller doesn’t believe that enough funding is going to support clean coal technology and research and development (R&D).

“Coal is not clean, but it can be made clean,” he says. “We’ve seen it in West Virginia.”

Refering to the carbon capture and sequestration process that is already happening at American Electric Power’s Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, which is in Mason County, Rockfeller was merely responding to the tough comments on Obama’s coal plans.

However, Obama’s aides have a different side to the story.

“It’s the policy of the administration to move as aggressively as we can towards a clean energy future, not only by investing in R&D into those clean energy sources, but also in cutting back on the subsidies that we currently provide…to fossil fuels,” Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, testified before Congress earlier this month.

Unconvinced, other lawmakers from coal states are challenging Obama’s budget proposal.

Rush Limbaugh decided to chime in. “Obama does not like clean coal and will do everything he can to get rid of it,” Limbaugh said.

He goes on to add: “Clean coal? There’s no such thing, compare it to his mythical green energy sector. This is worse than a menace but we’re still going to have to deal with it,” he added.

Congressman Nick Rahall did his bit for West Virginia’s coal miners and the industry by declaring: “I am with you”.

Tuesday night, the Democratic congressman strongly voiced his support for the industry he deemed critical for West Virginia’s overall economy.

“I am with the coal industry in that fight. I am with our coal miners,” he said. “I believe that we must retain coal power throughout the foreseeable future and that we ought to be doing all that we can do to keep coal a highly competitive, affordable fuel.”

Feverish

The fight for coal has clearly reached fever-pitch point.

While administration officials have rushed in with their PR exercise and maintained that Obama’s budget offers support for the coal industry, such as roughly half a billion dollars to fund research and development of technology to capture and sequester carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, most operators remain unconvinced.

Coal has always been under attack, but mountaintop mining opponents are gaining more support in Congress. The practice is essentially limited to West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Analysts insist that most Congress members see opposing mountaintop mining as an easy vote.

Coal is not only a target for environmental groups, but other fossil fuel industries appear to be taking pot shots.

Striking when the iron is hot, so to say.

Peabody Energy Corp, the biggest U S coal company, has also asked the Obama administration to reverse course, since the corporate thinks the government has relied on flawed reports for its policy making decisions.

Peabody filed a petition in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on February 12 seeking a review of a US Environmental Protection Agency decision of December 7, which notes that greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health.

Among other groups petitioning the court are the National Mining Association, a Washington-based trade group representing companies such as Arch Coal Inc and Consol Energy Inc.

India & China

At a bipartisan meeting of governors at the start of the month, President Obama “went over the top” for biofuels, by announcing a three-tiered plan to boost biofuel production in the United States.

He also discussed “clean coal” and nuclear power. Defending his decision to pursue the questionable technology, Obama hit out at China and India.

He said that even if the US could end or greatly reduce its dependence on coal-fired power, countries like China and India “most definitely would not in the near-term. Therefore, researching and developing clean coal technologies is essential and would at least be useful internationally, and most likely here at home as well”, the President said.

And how does the US President think he can tackle the issue?

Again, by learning from India and China. Duh…uh?

The US plans to build a new generation of “safe, clean nuclear power plants” for the first time in three decades, and the government plans to give about US$ 8 billion in loan guarantees for a new nuclear plant in Burke County, Georgia.

Obama’s take: Korea alongside China and India are making great strides in harnessing nuclear energy. “…there are 56 nuclear reactors under construction around the world: 21 in China alone; six in South Korea; five in India,” he said.

“And the commitment of these countries is not just generating the jobs in those plants; it’s generating demand for expertise and new technologies.”

Confusion compounded?

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