ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Lindsay Kalter
GHG Monitor
10/19/12

CANDIDATES SPAR OVER COAL ALLEGIANCE DURING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

The battle between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney over who will emerge as the race’s most ardent coal champion reached a new level of contention during the second presidential debate on Oct. 16. What began as a question from an audience about the Department of Energy’s role in managing gas prices expanded into a combative debate over energy policy, during which Obama and Romney posed doubts about the other’s respective loyalties to the coal industry. The aggression extended beyond verbal barrages, as the candidates took advantage of the open stage and faced one another in close proximity during the event’s most heated moments.

Romney criticized Environmental Protection Agency regulations on coal plants recently promulgated by the Obama Administration. “[Obama] has not been Mr. Oil or Mr. Gas or Mr. Coal. Talk to the people who are working in those industries,” Romney said. “When the President ran for office, he said if you build a coal plant, you can go ahead, but you’ll go bankrupt. That’s not the right course for America.” Meanwhile, Obama referenced a 2003 press conference then-Gov. Romney held during his first months in office. “When you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, this plant kills, and took great pride in shutting it down,” Obama said to Romeny. “And now suddenly you’re a big champion of coal.” Obama received criticism from several environmental groups when he referenced the same press conference in a radio ad that ran in Ohio earlier this summer. The fiery exchange during the debate came after a months-long effort from the candidates to gain support in coal-heavy battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Romney Blasts Obama on Fossil Jobs

During the debate Romney also criticized the President’s energy policies for failing to facilitate enough domestic energy production. “Look, I want to make sure we use our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables. I believe very much in our renewable capabilities—ethanol, wind, solar will be an important part of our energy mix,” Romney said. “But what we don’t need is to have the President keeping us from taking advantage of oil, coal and gas.” Romney has seen the detriment Obama’s policies have caused members of coal states, he said, adding that he has recently been approached by people from the coal industry on the campaign trail who asked him to save their jobs. “I don’t think anyone really believes that you’re a person who’s going to be pushing for oil and gas and coal,” he said to Obama.

Obama, meanwhile, emphasized his Administration’s commitment to ‘clean coal’ technology development over the last four years. “What I’ve tried to do is be consistent,” he said. “Same thing with oil; same thing with natural gas.” He also underscored his support for clean energy production such as wind, solar and biofuels. Obama criticized Romney on his oil-heavy energy stance, accusing him of favoring fossil fuels over the use of clean energy technologies. Throughout the campaign, Romney has listed the expansion of domestic oil and gas development as two primary focal points of his energy policy. In a blueprint released in August, Romney vowed to achieve North American energy independence by 2020, mostly by fast-tracking leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf, opening up more federal land to oil, gas and coal speculators and approving the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. During the debate, Obama said Romney, if elected, would act as a mouthpiece for oil companies. “Governor Romney will say he’s got an all-of-the-above plan, but basically his plan is to let the oil companies write the energy policies,” Obama said. “So he’s got the oil and gas part, but he doesn’t have the clean energy part.”

Crowley Withholds Climate Change Question

Noticeably missing from this week’s debate was a question about climate change, which has been the subject of heavy campaigning by environmental groups in recent weeks. However, in post-debate remarks, moderator Candy Crowley of CNN said that she had intended to ask a climate change question but at the last minute chose to focus on the economy instead. “I had that question, all you climate change people,” Crowley said in a post-debate interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We just…knew that the economy was still the main thing.”