Coal fires passions - BostonHerald.com

RICHLANDS, Va. -- A large crowd -- including some who were upset with U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., for his support of the federal cap and trade legislation -- demanded answers Tuesday from the veteran lawmaker during a town hall meeting on coal and energy.

"To place an entire economic system at risk for an unproven theory seems a little bit risky to me," said David Moore of North Tazewell, who questioned the concept of global warming and climate change during the town hall forum held on the campus of Southwest Virginia Community College.
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"First of all he (Obama) doesn’t hate coal," Boucher said. "He doesn’t hate Southwest Virginia. He’s been to Russell County. He’s been to Bristol. He’s been to Roanoke. He understands the importance of coal."
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Boucher defended his decision to support the controversial cap and trade measure throughout Monday’s meeting. He was joined at Monday’s meeting by Hall Quinn, president and chief executive officer of the National Mining Association, Bob Blue, vice president of external affairs for Dominion Virginia Power, and Jim McGlothlin, president of the United Companies.

"What I did I did to help the industry and to make it better for coal," Boucher said.

Flashback: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Obama: We’ll bankrupt any new coal plants

Flashback: Obama's choice to head the Department of Energy, Steven Chu: ‘Coal is My Worst Nightmare’ - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Big Coal won’t be very happy if Dr. Chu gets confirmed as head of the DOE—he’s really, really not a big fan. “Coal is my worst nightmare,” he said repeatedly in a speech earlier this year outlining his lab’s alternative-energy approaches.