Sen. Joe Biden, who visited Castlewood, Va., on Saturday for the United Mine Workers’ annual Fish Fry, was quick to remind supporters of his ties and friendship to coal.
Yet three days earlier, Biden told an environmental activist in Maumee, Ohio, “No coal plants here in America.”
You can see and hear for yourself by visiting our Washington bureau’s Web site at mgwashington.com.
Both presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, have called for major investments in clean-coal technologies. We wholeheartedly endorse that position.
While we agree that aging coal plants are menaces to public health and should be phased out in favor of those with environmental controls, we also know that clean coal must play a role in any comprehensive energy plan. Obama talked about that during his last visit to Southwest Virginia, a speech at Lebanon High School on Sept. 9.
U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., played an integral role in luring Obama here twice for stump speeches and reiterated on Saturday that “Sen. Obama’s a friend of coal.”
Imagine our surprise, then, when we got wind of a video that shows Biden reversing the Democratic ticket’s position on energy.
“We’re not supporting clean coal,” Biden says. “Guess what. China’s building two every week. Two dirty coal plants. And it’s polluting the United States. It’s causing people to die. … No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they’re going to build them over there [China], make ’em clean because they’re killing you.”
Perhaps Biden had a change of heart 72 hours later when he visited coal country. Or maybe he’s in the habit of telling various audiences what they want to hear.
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