Obama Will Turn Out the Lights On Coal Industry

Sen. Barack Obama in his own words. He would love to turn out the lights on the coal industry by bankrupting the industry because of the most aggressive global warming scam cap and trade policies on the planet.

He doesn't outlaw anyone from building new power plants, but he most certainly hopes that his cap and trade policies would result in bankrupting the industry because of the incredibly high fees that would be imposed on anyone emitting greenhouse gases.

His running mate Joe Biden has similarly stated that he hopes to kill the coal industry. He'd rather see China develop clean coal technologies than have coal fired power plants here in the US.

That means hundreds of thousands of people who rely on the coal industry for their jobs would be out of jobs should Obama get his energy policy rammed through. It also means that millions of people who rely on coal power for their heat, lights, computers, and those plug in electric vehicles better look elsewhere because there's not going to be a coal industry when Obama gets through with it.

As a reminder, quite a few states rely on the coal industry, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Montana. Coal also represents nearly 50% of all power produced in the nation.

UPDATE:
Gateway Pundit has more. So does Hot Air.

UPDATE:
Let's also consider how these cap and trade fees would affect the end user - the customer who relies on power producers who have coal-fired plants. They're going to see their rates skyrocket as the producers (the utilities) pass on the costs to their customers. This is an indirect tax on customers (the taxpayers like you and me), who will pay for this scheme in the form of higher energy costs. The utilities aren't simply going to absorb these taxes (and cap and trade is a tax). They're going to pass them on to the customers.

As bad as the high gas prices this summer were, it would get worse under an Obama administration that gets this cap and trade policy implemented.

UPDATE:
Stop the ACLU has a roundup of reaction.

Michelle Malkin weighs in. Newsbusters, in addition to having the transcript, notes that the SF Chronicle, which reported this interview, omitted the key section about Obama gloating about bankrupting the coal industry. Rick Moran notes that no one running for President in the history of this nation has ever gloated about bankrupting a sector of our economy and destroying jobs. Memeorandum has a roundup.

Nicedeb at Ace gives this the flaming skull treatment.

UPDATE:
Hot Air also finds additional video of Obama noting that energy prices will skyrocket as a result of his intended policies as utilities have to retrofit their facilities to meet new and more stringent emissions standards. All those costs will be passed on to the consumers.