FRANKFORT, Ky. – The coal industry is shedding thousands of jobs and facing the government’s most severe crackdown on carbon emissions yet. But king coal still flexes its political muscle in Kentucky and West Virginia, where Republicans and even Democrats try to out-coal one another by cozying up to the industry and slamming President Barack Obama.
In other coal-producing areas such as Ohio and Virginia, Democrats have been able to win even with the industry against them. That’s not an option for politicians in the heart of Appalachia.
Many people still cling to coal as a source of work and cultural pride, so almost everyone running for office seeks the mantle of coal savior, or at least defender.
A bipartisan national majority of Americans support limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, which scientists blame for climate change, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week.
Fifty-seven percent of Republicans and 79 percent of Democrats support state-level limits on greenhouse-gas emissions, and 70 percent of all Americans say the federal government should limit greenhouse gases from power plants.
