1 - Goose
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McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
McConnell Urges States to Help Thwart Obama’s ‘War on Coal’
WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has begun an aggressive campaign to block President Obama’s climate change agenda in statehouses and courtrooms across the country, arenas far beyond Mr. McConnell’s official reach and authority.
The campaign of Mr. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is aimed at stopping a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations requiring states to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Once enacted, the rules could shutter hundreds of coal-fired plants in what Mr. Obama has promoted as a transformation of the nation’s energy economy away from fossil fuels and toward sources like wind and solar power. Mr. McConnell, whose home state is one of the nation’s largest coal producers, has vowed to fight the rules.
Since Mr. McConnell is limited in how he can use his role in the Senate to block regulations, he has taken the unusual step of reaching out to governors with a legal blueprint for them to follow to stop the rules in their states. Mr. McConnell’s Senate staff, led by his longtime senior energy adviser, Neil Chatterjee, is coordinating with lawyers and lobbying firms to try to ensure that the state plans are tangled up in legal delays.
On Thursday, Mr. McConnell sent a detailed letter to every governor in the United States laying out a carefully researched legal argument as to why states should not comply with Mr. Obama’s regulations. In the letter, Mr. McConnell wrote that the president was “allowing the E.P.A. to wrest control of a state’s energy policy.”
To make his case, Mr. McConnell is also relying on a network of powerful allies with national influence and roots in Kentucky or the coal industry. Within that network is Laurence H. Tribe, a highly regarded scholar of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and a former mentor of Mr. Obama’s. Mr. Tribe caught Mr. McConnell’s attention last winter when he was retained to write a legal brief for Peabody Energy, the nation’s largest coal producer, in a lawsuit against the climate rules.
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We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- Rongone
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Mitch's "war on coal" whining has more to do with courting the donor dollars of the Kentucky coal industry and another sad attempt at making the sitting president look out of touch. Actually, Mitch is out of touch . . . sticking with a 19th century fuel source rather than developing sustainable, clean energy that will take us into the future.
By the way, I'm sick of all the "wars" we manufacture: drugs, Christmas, religion, etc. Not to mention all the real wars (you know, the old fashioned army vs. army, shoot-em-up, kill your enemy, fought by 1% of our population who come home to fend for themselves, and create many severely wounded survivors).
When is somebody going to declare a war on wars?
We'd all be better off if it was done and followed through.
Last edited by Rongone (3/20/2015 7:44 am)
- Goose
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Mitch will dress this up in rhetoric about fighting "big government", or the "anti-capitalist forces", to fit the narrative that they have sold to the masses. It's a well-rehearsed script by now.
But, all Mitch is doing is helping big business at the expense of the welfare and health of the people of this nation. It's all about money.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Thread Starter- Common Sense
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
It’s no surprise that senator McConnell is supporting Coal! Coal is a big industry in Kentucky. It’s a major part of the economy. Of course he is going to support it!
Why is this such a surprise?
The second part of his support for coal is what many believe to be the extreme overreach of the EPA. It seems to be another out of control federal agency. Without a doubt there are going to be federal lawsuits filed.
Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Senate nominee in Kentucky, released a radio ad when running against Senator McConnell slamming President Barack Obama for "pie in the sky regulations" aimed at her state's coal industry.
A few facts about coal in Kentucky:
Overview
After more than two centuries of commercial mining operations, Kentucky’s domestic supply of coal re-mains an important component of the Commonwealth’s economy.In 2013, Kentucky ranked as the third-highest coal producer in the United States at 80.5 million tons. Coal continued to supply a majority of
energy in Kentucky and remained the largest source of domestic energy production in the Common-wealth. At the end of 2013, coal mines in Kentucky directly employed 11,885 people and mining di-rectly contributed billions of dollars to the economy of Kentucky. Over 30 percent of the coal pro-duced in Kentucky was consumed within the Commonwealth; however, the largest market for Kentucky coal remains the generation of electrical power across the United States, primarily in the southeast.
Production
Kentucky coal production decreased in 2013 by more than 11.8 percent from 2012, to 80.5 million tons, the lowest level since 1963. Eastern Kentucky coal production decreased in 2013 by 19 percent from 2012 to 39.8 million tons—the lowest level since 1962. Production slowed at both underground and surface mines, but declines in surface mining were more severe. Eastern Kentucky production has declined by 63 percent since the year 2000, and by 70 percent since peak production at 131 million
tons in 1990. Western Kentucky coal production decreased by 2.8 percent from 2012 to 40.9 million tons. Union County remained the largest coal-producing county in Kentucky, out-
producing the second-largest, Pike County, by 2.3 million tons or 21 percent. Total annual production in 2013 in western
Kentucky, where thicker, more productive coal seams yield cheaper coal, was greater than in eastern
Kentucky for the first time since 1911.
Employment
At the end of 2013, Kentucky coal mines employed 11,885 persons, 6,643 underground coal miners,3,414 surface miners, 1,438 preparation plant workers, and 390 on-site office staff. During 2013, employment at Kentucky coal mines decreased by over 15.5 percent from 14,107 at the beginning of the year, to an average of only 11,885 by December—a one-year loss of 2,222 employees. Coal mine layoffs have been concentrated in eastern Kentucky where on-site employment has fallen by ap-
proximately 7,000 jobs, or 38 percent, since mid-year 2011 to 7,436 by the end of 2013. Employment in western Kentucky has remained relatively stable during this same period, with 4,449 at the end of 2013.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”
- Common Sense
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Rongone wrote:
Mitch's "war on coal" whining has more to do with courting the donor dollars of the Kentucky coal industry and another sad attempt at making the sitting president look out of touch. Actually, Mitch is out of touch . . . sticking with a 19th century fuel source rather than developing sustainable, clean energy that will take us into the future.
By the way, I'm sick of all the "wars" we manufacture: drugs, Christmas, religion, etc. Not to mention all the real wars (you know, the old fashioned army vs. army, shoot-em-up, kill your enemy, fought by 1% of our population who come home to fend for themselves, and create many severely wounded survivors).
When is somebody going to declare a war on wars?
We'd all be better off if it was done and followed through.
Yea you are so right about all the phony wars……
War on women? Rich vs poor war, Gay vs straight war,
Black vs white war, Citizens vs illegal alien war.
This administration has done everything it can to divide
our country. And now the most stunning war. US vs Israel phony war?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”
- Goose
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Let's try to stay on topic, shall we?
This is a pretty obvious case of McConnell carrying water for Big Coal. (The people who brought you black lung).
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- •
Thread Starter- Rongone
- Sentient Being
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Mitch's "war on coal" whining has more to do with courting the donor dollars of the Kentucky coal industry and another sad attempt at making the sitting president look out of touch. Actually, Mitch is out of touch . . . sticking with a 19th century fuel source rather than developing sustainable, clean energy that will take us into the future.
By the way, I'm sick of all the "wars" we manufacture: drugs, Christmas, religion, etc. Not to mention all the real wars (you know, the old fashioned army vs. army, shoot-em-up, kill your enemy, fought by 1% of our population who come home to fend for themselves, and create many severely wounded survivors).
When is somebody going to declare a war on wars?
We'd all be better off if it was done and followed through.Yea you are so right about all the phony wars……
War on women? Rich vs poor war, Gay vs straight war,
Black vs white war, Citizens vs illegal alien war.
This administration has done everything it can to divide
our country. And now the most stunning war. US vs Israel phony war?
Yes, thanks for reminding us all about the catch-all excuse for all that is wrong in the world today:
The fabricated war on Obama.
Yeah, the guy that the citizens elected and then re-elected for a second term as per the laws of our representative republic. Yeah, he, not our vaunted legislative branch, is the root of all divisiveness within our country and the world. Who starts and continually investigates nonsensical, unimportant, emotional issues relentlessly and without any purpose other than demeaning opposing points of view?
Mitch and his cohorts are just the remedy we are seeking: 19th century ideas and thinking in a 21st century world. That will surely result in progress and improvement throughout the U.S. and the world.
- BYOB
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Common, while all your statistics on the industry of coal are fascinating, I don't see any coordinating statistics that tell us how many workers are killed every year directly from working in that industry, or any statistics on how it impacts people. Remember people? At one time, they used to count more than industry. Now they've been reduced to an afterthought, if they are even thought of at all.
Severe overreach of the EPA? 
Are you seriously suggesting that we have just too damn much protection of our environment? I'll believe that when we suffer from water and air that is too clean.
- Goose
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Well, if we are going down this road,,,,,,
How does one address the problems identified by the DOJ report on the ferguson PD's unfair treatment of blacks without being accused of declaring some false war on blacks?
It seems to me that, accusations that someone has declared "a war on _____" has become a way to issue a blanket dismissal of legitimate concerns.
Common, why not abandon this silliness and address issues as they come, on their own merits?
Last edited by Goose (3/20/2015 8:56 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Thread Starter- Goose
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Re: McConnell Becomes a Coal Lobbyist
Severe overreach of the EPA?
Yea, I thought that was a hoot as well.
It all fits into the playbook, though.
An out of control EPA, tying the hands of business.
IN WV the EPA can't even stop the coal companies from removing entire mountains, and the streams that are on them from existence.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
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Thread Starter