McCain Opposes New Coal Plants; Promotes Clean Coal

Last week, the Wonk Room reported that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) joined Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) in opposing mountaintop removal, an ecologically and economically disastrous form of coal mining that has devastated Appalachia. This position, expressed at a Florida townhall meeting, caught his campaign and his supporters off guard, with Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) responding that "such a stance could hurt McCain in West Virginia."

At the same meeting, McCain also criticized the idea of building new coal plants that do not sequester their greenhouse gas emissions. He said:

"We're going to build new plants that generate energy, my friends, we're going to build them. We've got to. There's an increased demand for it. And it seems to me, it's going to be coal, which I believe will increase greenhouse gas emissions dramatically, or it's going to be nuclear, or it's going to be clean coal technology."

Read the full story here.

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Related:

Both Ways on Coal? Obama, McCain Embrace "Clean Coal," Not Mountaintop Removal

Pickens Having Trouble Talking Wind With GOP

Comments

[Huffingtonposter231]

Al Gore has just come out urging young people in America to come out and violate the law...use civil disobedience to stop the building of new coal plants.

So, the Guru of "man made global warming a disaster" is now calling for followers of his new religion to raise up and violate the law in civil disobedience.

No wonder the public didn't think he deserved the White House.

[rwe]

ohhh the bogeymen of clean coal and big oil... STOP THE INSANITY.. it can and has to be done along with nukes , wind and solar... America, specifically southern Illinois hs the Saudi Arabia of coal... Why to enviros not want us to be energy independent?

[lilsongbird101]

I would like to see clean coal used for energy as well as other sources used for energy. Any US energy supply will be better for us. I am not for clean coal as the republicans want to use it, no doubt they would use "clean coal energy" just as they have oil... (for thier own financial gain). I am however for a new energy policy by democrats regarding "clean coal" as I trust them economically to make decisions that will benifit all. I am from West Virginia where the source is plentiful and coal workers work very hard, risking their lives to provide us with it. I am all for "clean coal energy use" so long as the democrats are in charge of it.
An Independant voter
Voting for Barack Obama & Joe Biden
In West Virginia

[thedailymccain]

John McCain now believes that Global Warming is not man-made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edYxCNSZWds

See this video!

[KillTheMessenger]

Typical GOPeldigoop. Claim increased demand as if there was nothing one could do about that.

[gladtobebaldwin]

Absolutely incorrect. Coal is dirtier than natural gas for making electricity, but there are international refineries that refine coal into petroleum that burns cleaner than any we refine from oil.

There are also a slew of new technologies that can be used to reduce emissions that are not used yet because they are not required for electrical use at this time.

What would you prefer? We use those technologies and tap our huge coal reserves, or bomb Iran?

[desertflower1]

Isn't "clean coal" an oxymoron?? Don't believe you can have it both ways!

[Egalitare]

If Big Coal admits that "clean coal" is decades away -- at best -- they put themselves out of the game. So let's stop pretending they represent a viable option with regard to energy security.

[Nitehawk]

There is no such thing as "clean coal". If you think so I suggest you stop by a place where they leveled a mountain and poisoned the local streams. And even if you scrub the smoke to death, it still emits CO2.

[gladtobebaldwin]

Good to see at least one article that isn't bashing McCain.

These are the dates that matter. The debates schedule in its entirety.

http://myrealitytelevision.com/2008/09/the-presidential-debates-2008full-schedule/

[whillice]

McCain is incoherent here. I don't know if he was favoring or opposing new traditional coal. I guess you really can have it both ways.....