The nonpartisan U.S. Energy Information Administration has all but confirmed the president’s aggressive war on coal with a report detailing a record number of coal-fired power plants to be closed this year — largely because of burdensome regulations and other compliance costs

BECAUSE NATURAL GAS IS CHEAPER..AND CLEANER...AND SAFER

SEE IF YOU CAN BLAME THAT ON OBAMA !

There is no such thing as clean coal.

My father came to the US as a 12 year old, and after high school, started in the west virginia coal mines.

Quite a few relatives maimed in the mines.

So Doc Hastings ( R-WA) is a friend of the coal-mine owners, eh? I wonder why :

Top 5 Industries, 2011-2012, Doc Hastings Campaign Contributions

Industry……………….....…………Total

Mining………………....…………$99,028

Oil & Gas…………………………$94,299

Sea Transport……….......………$51,000

Retired…………….....……………$49,500

Crop Production & Basic Processing……$47,450

Obama doesn't care about the coal industry, the workers, the users or how much our electrical bills will soar. He tried Cap and Trade through Congress it failed by for good reason, the majority of the American People said No. Now he is using the EPA to get what he wants while the Democrats sit back and watch it happen. So in reality Obama and none of the Democrats care about this country at all. They would rather see us spend money that we don't have for the ever increasing cost for energy. Forget the fact that we have over 25 million people without jobs and a job outlook that doesn't look good because of increased regulation at every level of Government. This is just about like Obama-Care, it is being forced on us without our voices being heard.

I believe Obama is doing all he can to make things harder for this economy to improve and the all of the Democrats are following him. That makes it a lot easier to vote them out of office come November too.

Here it is in his own words:

What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.

The reason this clown wants to continue using the fuel of cavemen is that he is a neanderthal himself.

After reading the first few comments, I'll just skip the "maybe you'd prefer to live in the dark" comment, in as much as I know the answer is "yes".

War on coal. I wonder if they had a "war on horses" when they started making cars, or was it "war on blacksmiths"? I think we had a "war on coal/wood burning railroad engines". Coal is a dirty fuel, period. If we can find a better source, think natural gas, we should use it. When we stopped using wood for heating homes and making dinner was there a "war on wood"?

Are you voting for Obama? http://celebrity-plugs.com/t/<...

Rep Hastings, I will ask you the same questions I asked Mitch McConnell.

With all of the workers in the coal fields hurting:

why are you fighting to reduce unemployment benefits?;

why are you working to reduce food stamps?;

why are you not proposing and funding "clean coal" studies?

When all is said and done

More is said than DONE

The stupidity of the American voter never ceases to amaze me. Why has Osama Obama begun this war on COAL?

Well anyone who knows who his previous main client was when he was still a Lawyer would be able to answer that question.

Exelon. Who is Exelon? Well here in Illinois they are better known as Commonwealth Edison Company, provider of most of the electricity in Illinois. What does Osama Obama's war mean for Exelon? Doubling of electric rates to all of its customers and and addition of several BILLION DOLLARS EVERY YEAR to the bottom line profits of Exelon, which I am sure that Osama Obama will get a nice piece of once he leaves the White House if his war succeeds.

Why would Exelon make so much more in profits if Osama Obama wins their war? Simply because virtually all of their electric power is generated by nuclear power, with some via wind or solar.

The fact is that Exelon has owns 17 nuclear reactors in 10 power plants. They are the second largest generator of electric power in the USA and Canada. They have a capacity of 35,000 megawatts of electric power to sell and electric power in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.

They own ONLY THREE coal fired generating plants, two of which they are minority owners of. So getting rid of coal as a method of generating electric power would not hurt them at all since they have an unused nuclear plant in Zion Illinois that can generate more electric power than all three of those coal fired generators combined. They also have "wind farms" in Illinois, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oregon, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan and Missouri.

They also have a solar generation plant in Chicago. They have hydro plants in PA and Maryland. They generate 55% of their energy by nuclear power, 24% using Natural Gas, 8% by renewable means which are mostly hydro with fractions of a percent from wind and solar, 7% from crude oil and only 6% from coal.

Their "safe nuclear" plant was shut down in 1998 after an accident that caused their steam pipes to be so damaged that it would cost $435 MILLION to repair and the plant's license would have expired before they earned back the $435 million cost of repair in 2013. This plant is only 40 Miles north of Chicago and 45 miles south of Milwaukee so the accident endangered two major metropolitan areas (including where my family and I live).

So Osama Obama's "safer, cleaner" electric generation policies risked the lives of over 10,647,371 Americans for the sake of his best client! That is not what I would define as being Green about our environment.

Chicago and Milwaukee should not be the same as Chernobyl! Actually if the Zion plant had done what the Chernobyl plant did, the effects would have contaminated the entire Midwest and Mid South all the way to the Gulf of Mexico because Zion is built right next to Lake Michigan which drains into the Mississippi River via the Chicago River and would have spread East through all 5 of the Great Lakes, the largest fresh water source on earth.

But Osama Obama would have still received his lawyers fees representing Exelon in this potential disaster.