Coal is what it is–VP candidates and coal
Posted by susanna on 15 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: Coal, Virginia
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Barack Obama shone some of his rays of hope on the climate movement. He named “serious” action on global warming as one of the benchmarks for success in his first term. “If I haven’t gotten combat troops out of Iraq, passed universal health care and created a new energy policy that speaks to our dependence on foreign oil and deals seriously with global warming, then we’ve missed the boat.”
In order to deal “seriously” with climate change, we need a moratorium on new coal plants. According to James Hansen, “it’s just silly to build a new one now.” And yet VP hopeful, our own Governor Tim Kaine, aggressively pushed for his and Dominion’s coal plant in Wise County. As Gov. Kaine says on this video, “There are some who say that you can’t build any new coal plants, and I don’t agree with that.”
Join the campaign at www.chesapeakeclimate.org/nocoal
Another VP hopeful, Kathleen Sebelius, has a record on coal that is much more promising than Gov. Kaine’s. She made herself a hero by standing up to a Republican legislature and strong utilities by blocking a coal plant from being built. Even the Republicans have a strong hero in the VP running. Florida Governor Charlie Crist successfully halted the construction of a new coal plant and stated his strong support of renewable energy. “Coal is what it is and I know it’s been an important source of energy in the past. But you know we have solar, we have nuclear, we have wind and other alternative opportunities for energy in the Sunshine State.”
It’s obvious that Kaine supports coal. He wants coal now, and he wants coal in the future. Is this going to meet up with Obama’s stated goal, to seriously address global warming?
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4 Comments »
on 21 Jul 2008 at 8:53 am 1.iLoveMountains.org » Blog Archive - End Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining » Mountain Monday: “10 More Years of Coal” said …
[...] the candidate front, Susanna Murley over at Chesapeake Climate Action Network dis-nominates coal-lovin Tim Kaine from consideration for Obama’s VP. Kaine, as many of you know, backed a dangerous, expensive, and unneccesary coal-fired power plant [...]
on 23 Jul 2008 at 12:08 pm 2.Virginia is itching for a PowerShift « It’s Getting Hot In Here said …
[...] are Virginia’s leaders now?
on 23 Jul 2008 at 12:20 pm 3.CCAN Blog » Virginia is Itching for a PowerShift said …
[...] Where are Virginia’s leaders now?
on 02 Aug 2008 at 11:04 am 4.Don Thieme said …
Tim Kaine does not represent the kind of change that I believe in! Senator Obama needs to look elsewhere on his short list.