Legislative leaders say coal rhetoric not helping [View all]

Sorry about the source but I'll take the news where I can find it.

The Washington Times
September 15, 2014
Legislative leaders say coal rhetoric not helping

(excerpt)
...Hopefuls for an open Senate seat and two competitive House races have recited the same conversation: Republicans lump Democrats in with President Obama, an ever-unpopular figure in West Virginia. Democrats zigzag to show they don’t support his energy ideas.

It’s a simplified dialogue that ignores the larger forces determining Appalachian coal’s future, said state House Speaker Tim Miley and Senate President Jeff Kessler.

Natural gas is cheap and plentiful, coal seams have thinned out, domestic and international coal markets are lousy and other states and countries provide stiff competition.

“I wish (federal candidates) would talk more about how we are going to diversify our economy, because I don’t know whether coal is ever coming back,” Miley, a Harrison County Democrat, said Sept. 5 on the Viewpoint radio show in West Virginia....

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