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.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is committed to the idea that America can have the affordable, reliable electricity we need, with the clean environment we want. ACCCE’s Behind the Plug blog is the place for up-to-date news and analysis on clean coal technology developments and energy policy progress.
[...] light of this project, it’s surprising that President Obama didn’t mention coal when calling for an “all-out, all-of-the-above” energy agenda during last week’s State of the [...]