Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is headed into coal country this week with scheduled presidential campaign stops in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio. While there, Clinton “will meet with voters, hear their stories, and discuss how she will fight to raise incomes and expand opportunities for them and their families as president,” according to a campaign release.
The Democratic front-runner is on thin ice in the region after her opponents latched onto comments she made in early March suggesting her proposed energy plan would “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
She went on to state at that time that “we’re going to make it clear that we don’t want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories.”
Clinton appeared in Ashland, Ky., Monday afternoon to discuss “economic barriers and jobs,” before heading to Williamson, W.Va., for a “discussion with community members” followed by a meeting with retired mine workers.
Clinton was forced to defend her previous comments on coal Monday, CNN has reported, when a former coal company employee asked her, “How you can say you are going to put a lot of coal miners out of jobs and then come in here and tell us how you are going to be our friends?”
Clinton responded, “I don’t know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context for what I meant because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time … It was a misstatement because what I was saying is the way things are going now, they will continue to lose jobs. It didn’t mean that we were going to do it. What I said is that is going to happen unless we take action to help and prevent it.”
On Tuesday, she heads to Athens, Ohio, to speak about jobs and the economy. “The trip will underscore Clinton’s focus on the aspirations and needs of families, especially in often overlooked or underserved communities across the country, and what they are looking for in their next president,” according to the release.
Clinton’s Appalachian tour plans were not well received by coal industry proponents. “It’s a bold move to stand before the very communities that will be devastated by the policies Secretary Clinton supports continuing and ask that they put their trust in her,” Laura Sheehan, senior vice president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said in a published statement, referencing Clinton’s support of President Barack Obama’s regulation of coal plant carbon emissions.
“This isn’t even political misdirection; Sec. Clinton has made it very clear that she would be a virtual Obama 2.0, backing regulations that would stunt economic growth and hurt those who can least afford it the most,” Sheehan said.
Under Clinton’s energy plan, more than 500 million solar panels would be installed across the country by 2021, and by 2027 the nation would generate enough clean renewable energy to power every home.
The energy policy says Clinton will “protect the health and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families and provide economic opportunities for those that kept the lights on and factories running for more than a century.” According to a campaign fact sheet, Clinton will ensure health and retirement security by establishing a federal backstop that “ensures retirees get the benefits they have earned and deserve.” She will also reform the black lung benefit program and establish a program to address the loss of public school revenue tied closely to the coal industry in many coal communities.