WASHINGTON – In response to tonight’s State of the Union address by President Obama, President and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity Steve Miller released the following statement:

The State of the Union address was most notable for what was left unsaid, namely any mention of coal – America’s dominant source of electricity – in the President’s plan for our nation’s energy future.  It is inconceivable that we can reach our shared national goals of creating jobs, rebuilding U.S. manufacturing and keeping energy affordable for our families and businesses without domestically-produced coal playing a central role.

Tonight the President stated, “This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy— a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper and full of new jobs.”  Coal is the centerpiece of that “all-of-the-above” national strategy. Coal is cleaner; with major emissions from coal-fueled power plants reduced almost 90 percent over the past 40 years.  It is affordable and allows American families to meet their budgets and enables our businesses to be more competitive in the global economy.  And the coal-fueled electricity industry is full of existing and new jobs in states across this country.

The reality is that the state of our union can only remain strong if we continue to depend on America’s fuel—coal—to power our future.

WASHINGTON – The following statement was released today by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity President and CEO Steve Miller in advance of President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

As the President outlines his energy proposals, we are reminded of his numerous 2008 campaign statements that coal must be a key part of our nation’s energy future.  Candidate Obama embraced coal, America’s dominant source of electricity.  In 2008, he even said, “We could invest in renewable sources of energy and in clean coal technology and create up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs.”

But over the past three years, President Obama’s policies have been inconsistent with Candidate Obama’s rhetoric.  His regulations concerning electricity from coal could destroy more than a million jobs and subject families and businesses to higher energy prices.  Just as we are clawing our way out of the Great Recession, states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia—which rely heavily on electricity from coal—will be particularly hard hit by the cost of these regulations.

America must make use of all our domestically-produced fuels to hold down prices, make our manufacturers more competitive and make our nation more energy secure.  As the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness concluded this month, America needs to be “all in” on energy sources.  But the Obama Administration’s policies amount to being “all out” on coal.

The President needs to honor the pledges he made during the 2008 campaign by reaffirming his commitment to affordable, reliable electricity that will power our nation—a commitment that can only be met with coal.