It’s Getting Hot In Here

With all the attention to Obama’s wavering on coal issues, have we been letting Clinton off the hook? In an interview this morning with West Virginia Public Radio, Clinton wavered on the issue of mountaintop removal, making a false dichotomy between profits and environmental protection. You can listen to the broadcast here or read the quote below:

I am concerned about it for all the reasons people state, but I think its a difficult question because of the conflict between the economic and environmental trade-off that you have here. I’m not an expert. I don’t know enough to have an independent opinion, but I sure would like people who could be objective, understanding both the economic necessities and environmental damage to come up with some approach that would enable us to retrieve the coal but would enable us to do it in a way that wouldn’t damage the living standards and the other important qualities associated with people living both under the mountaintop and people who are along the streams. You know, maybe there is a way to recover those mountaintops once they have been stripped of the coal. You know, I think we’ve got to look at this from a practical perspective.

There is so much wrong with this response. We need to find ways to retrieve the coal? Here’s a better idea: stop burning it in the first place. And I’m sorry, but since when was it “practical” to blow the tops of mountains, destroy communities, threaten people’s lives, and subvert the political process so that corporations could make an extra buck for bribing judges and politicians with?

Clinton’s wavering is another reminder of why it’s so important to continue taking action to fight coal. Fossil Fool’s Day is coming up this April 1st, what do you have planned?