It’s election year! That means signs are crowding the hillsides, parades are an hour longer than necessary, and commercial breaks drag on and on taking up precious program time to air all of the over exaggerated campaign advertisements! No matter how you feel about these things, the people of Appalachia need to keep their eyes and ears open this election year. One of the main issues being discussed by the candidates is something many of us hold dear to our hearts: coal.
The energy crisis is a major problem this country is dealing with and both President Barrack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are proposing different ways to deal with it. President Obama is pledging to do more with renewable energy. He would like the country to rely more on wind energy and other sources of clean, safer, renewable resources. He wants to cut some coal out of the equation and develop clean coal technology with the rest. This will happen by developing “first of a kind” commercial scale coal-fired plants with clean carbon capture and sequestrian technology.
Romney, on the other hand, wants the country to start using more of the resource right below it. “We have 250 years of coal, why the heck wouldn’t we use it?” he recently stated during a campaign stop to coal miners in Ohio. He would like the country to stop relying on foreign resources and focus more on the fossil fuels we have. Romney believes this will be better for the country economically and if used the right way will cause no harm.
While fans of clean energy are for President Obama’s plan, those who are thinking more economically are for Romney’s. I am not going to give my opinion of who should win the 2012 election, but I encourage Appalachians to really pay attention to this part of the politics, and make the decision on what they feel is best for their home. This election has the potential to affect the coal industry the millions of people involved with it, and Appalachia for years to come.
-R
2 comments:
I love that you brought up something that is going on right now in our country and that you showed the opinions of both sides without saying which you favor more. Although, I am rather curious, which side *do* you choose?
-F.
Thanks. Personally, I'm a bit torn. I do think that right now we need all the jobs we can get, and coal miners are very deserving of them. I agree with Romney's plan more, especially if we can take the steps needed to get more environmentally friendly coal-powered plants.
-R
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