McCain embraces dirty coal, says he is a "coal booster"

Photo credit: Photo Mojo

While campaigning in coal-rich Pennsylvania, the Washington Post reports, McCain promised he is a "coal booster" and that he would encourage the export of coal to other countries. He also claimed that coal will "create hundreds of thousands of jobs".

In reality coal exports in USA is just a tiny little part of the coal industry. According to the Energy Information Administration, only 2 percent of the coal was exported from USA in 2007. And the coal industry hasn’t had "hundreds of thousands of jobs" since the 1950s. Now the coal industry only employ about 80 000 people. And that sum is likely not to go up.

Dan Weiss, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said that "U.S. coal exports is a way for the U.S. to export global warming pollution," and that "instead, we should be exporting wind and solar technology."

But McCain and his fellow Republicans don't care about common sense and they are now making so called robocalls in Pennsylvania and other coal-producing states around the U.S. warning that Barack Obama would "bankrupt the coal industry".

The Climate Progress blog has a nice piece about this that I think you should read:

Today you will be able to choose if you want four more years of the same failed politics from George Bush and the Republican Party, or if you want some well-needed change and a way in the right direction for USA and the world. Make your vote count!