Today, President Obama took questions from the House Republican Caucus, including one from Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito (WV-02) about coal jobs in West Virginia. The exchange begins around minute 19.
CONGRESSWOMAN CAPITO: Thank you, Mr. President, for joining us here today. As you said in the State of the Union address on Wednesday, jobs and the economy are number one. And I think everyone in this room, certainly I, agree with you on that.
I represent the state of West Virginia. We’re resource-rich. We have a lot of coal and a lot of natural gas. But our — my miners and the folks who are working and those who are unemployed are very concerned about some of your policies in these areas: cap and trade, an aggressive EPA, and the looming prospect of higher taxes. In our minds, these are job-killing policies. So I’m asking you if you would be willing to re-look at some of these policies, with a high unemployment and the unsure economy that we have now, to assure West Virginians that you’re listening.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Look, I listen all the time, including to your governor, who’s somebody who I enjoyed working with a lot before the campaign and now that I’m President. And I know that West Virginia struggles with unemployment, and I know how important coal is to West Virginia and a lot of the natural resources there. That’s part of the reason why I’ve said that we need a comprehensive energy policy that sets us up for a long-term future.
For example, nobody has been a bigger promoter of clean coal technology than I am. Testament to that, I ended up being in a whole bunch of advertisements that you guys saw all the time about investing in ways for us to burn coal more cleanly.
I’ve said that I’m a promoter of nuclear energy, something that I think over the last three decades has been subject to a lot of partisan wrangling and ideological wrangling. I don’t think it makes sense. I think that that has to be part of our energy mix. I’ve said that I am supportive — and I said this two nights ago at the State of the Union — that I am in favor of increased production.
So if you look at the ideas that this caucus has, again with respect to energy, I’m for a lot of what you said you are for.
The one thing that I’ve also said, though, and here we have a serious disagreement and my hope is we can work through these disagreements — there’s going to be an effort on the Senate side to do so on a bipartisan basis — is that we have to plan for the future.
And the future is that clean energy — cleaner forms of energy are going to be increasingly important, because even if folks are still skeptical in some cases about climate change in our politics and in Congress, the world is not skeptical about it. If we’re going to be after some of these big markets, they’re going to be looking to see, is the United States the one that’s developing clean coal technology? Is the United States developing our natural gas resources in the most effective way? Is the United States the one that is going to lead in electric cars? Because if we’re not leading, those other countries are going to be leading.
So what I want to do is work with West Virginia to figure out how we can seize that future. But to do that, that means there’s going to have to be some transition. We can’t operate the coal industry in the United States as if we’re still in the 1920s or the 1930s or the 1950s. We’ve got to be thinking what does that industry look like in the next hundred years. And it’s going to be different. And that means there’s going to be some transition. And that’s where I think a well-thought-through policy of incentivizing the new while recognizing that there’s going to be a transition process — and we’re not just suddenly putting the old out of business right away — that has to be something that both Republicans and Democrats should be able to embrace.
According to the EPA, Patriot Coal will still be able to mine 91 percent of the coal they were originally planning to produce, even
without any new valley fills.
Mountaintop removal has shown to be a disaster for the communities, economy, and ecology of Appalachia. Mountaintop removal has buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of headwaters streams in Appalachia and contaminated them with toxic heavy metals and chemicals.
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John Adams has been mining coal in southwest Virginia for almost 40 years. I met him in the hallway outside the auditorium where the Big Stone Gap hearing was being held. He wore an ‘I Love Mountains’ pin proudly fastened next to the ‘Friends of Coal’ logo on the black t-shirt he wore over his orange miner’s stripes. After the angry altercations at the Charleston hearing, I was apprehensive, but Adams’ friendly, lined face reminded me of a favorite uncle; he seemed approachable and kind and I asked if we could talk for a few minutes. “What, you wanna talk to a dirty ol’ strip miner?” Totally thrown, I stumbled a bit. “Nah, I’m just teasing ya treehugger,” he said, “We’re all friends here, and if I got a problem with my friend, I’m gonna sit down and talk to him about it. What do you wanna know?”
Mr. Adams firmly believes that mountain top removal doesn’t harm the environment. “Environmental development, that’s what were doing,” he said. “The hills around here are so steep, your options are either to strip and level, or build out a place at a huge construction cost.” To him, the land leveled by mountain top removal offers significant opportunity for economic development. As we’re talking about this, he stops another Friend of Coal leaving the hospitality room. “Hey, tell this reporter about those subdivisions! High dollar, ain’t they? For doctors and lawyers, rich folks, right?” His friend nodded, “Oh yeah, definitely nice places up there. Reclaimed that site, you should look at that one. Wild turkeys and deer all around, too.” Adams says “that’s the problem, right there. You only bring people up here and show ’em the worst part of the worst mine they got. You don’t show ’em where we’ve turned the site into something good.”
If he hadn’t been turned into a miner, Mr. Adams said he would have been a paleontologist. His prized possession is a T-Rex claw found in Montana. He speaks of it in a big-fish-story kind of way, describing its curve and gleam and throwing in a few little-known facts about the awesome dinosaur. But, with what he calls a “barely high school” education, paleontology eluded him and mining kind of absorbed him; his family had done it, and with little alternate options, he fell into it as well. “Sure we should have diversified our economy,” he said, “but why didn’t we think of that 40 years ago?” Now it is how it is, and there are scant alternate options to turn to. Mr. Adams took his pay stub out of the pocket of his blue coveralls and ripped off the perforated edges. “I’ll show you this, and you can write this down.” The year-to-date total of his salary is $68, 307.13, and is flanked by a respectable 401-k and 12 remaining vacation days. “You tell me one other place around here I can make that. Economically depressed? Maybe, but its the coal that’s keepin’ us going. When you’re getting everything in the world taken away from you, like we feel, you’re gonna get angry. Without something to drive our economy, our economy don’t run.”
I ask what he will do when the coal runs out, when there is nothing left to mine. “Everything is finite,” he says, “but if its gonna run out anyway, why not just go ahead and get it all?” He sees the government’s attempt to regulate mining as simply an attack on personal rights, and says “Mr. Obama wants to take everything away from us.” We talk a bit more and head off in separate directions. Registration is starting for those who want to speak at the hearing, and he wants to get in line. He gives me a one-track CD called “Hey Tree Hugger” and tells me with a genuine smile and squeeze of the shoulder that I should give it a sharp listen. He points out a young miner named Doug and tells me he’s a gentlemen, single, and got twenty head of horses and a nice little farm, and that I should definitely introduce myself to him. Later on, right before the hearing starts, I’m standing outside the backdoor right past the “Tree Hugger’ hospitality room. Adams come out with his coat slung over his arm and a bowl of chili and cornbread. “Leaving before the party starts?” I ask. “That’s what happens when you’re a papaw; somebody always needs you.” He throws me a wink and gestures to his bowl: “We got better sodas in our room, but your side definitely has better chili.”
Before you click the “Call Now” link on the call-in tool, click one of the following links or scroll through all the scripts below to get a feel for what you might say.
For a Representative SUPPORTS the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)
“I am calling to thank Representative _____ for co-sponsoring HR 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act.
“Please let (him or her) I am glad to hear that Representative _____ is in favor of protecting the water and communities of Appalachia.
“In addition to leaving this message of thanks, I also want to ask Representative _____ to take further action to ensure the Clean Water Protection Act passes in the House this year.
“Please ask Representative _____ to encourage other Representatives from our area to sign on as co-sponsors of the bill.
“I also ask that Representative _____ encourage Chairman Oberstar to make sure this bill passes through the Transportation and Infrastructure committee.
“Thank you for your time. And, once again, thanks to Representative _____ for taking leadership and signing on to HR 1310.”
For a Representative OPPOSES the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)
“I have heard that Representative _______ is opposed to HR 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act, which would rein in mountaintop removal mining.
“Please let Representative___________ know that supporting mountaintop removal is not only wrong, but it puts Representative ______ on the wrong side of history. The American people, and most importantly the people of Appalachia, oppose mountaintop removal.
“I want to ask Representative ________ to protect the water and communities of Appalachia, and the water of all those downstream. Support the Clean Water Protection Act.”
For a Representative whose position is UNKNOWN concerning the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)
“I am calling to ask Representative ______ to help end the destruction of the water and communities of Appalachia, and the water of all those downstream, by becoming a co-sponsor of HR 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act.
“Mountaintop removal is an unnecessary method of coal extraction that blasts hundreds of feet of mountains with dangerous chemicals to get at very thin seams of coal. The debris from mountaintop removal is dumped into nearby streams and rivers. The Clean Water Protection Act would return the Clean Water Act to its original intent and would prohibit this mining ‘waste’ from being used as fill in these U.S. waterways.
“Already, more that 500 mountains and 1200 miles of streams have been destroyed in Appalachia. Please ask Representative ______ to sign on today as a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act to protect the region’s land and people.
“Contact Tim DelMonico in Representative Pallone’s office or Jason Edgar in Representative Reichert’s office to sign on to HR 1310.
This is a map of the gob piles in Virginia that are listed with the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. The gob piles were digitized by Appalachian Voices based on photocopies of 1:24,000 scale USGS quarter-quads provided to Appalachian Voices by DMME in May, 2006. The popup balloons list the USGS quad in which the pile is located as well as the approximate acreage of the pile provided by DMME.
