NEWS RELEASE
November 19, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kim Geveden
(502) 682-2010
[email protected]
Annette Lee
(502) 498-4008x230
[email protected]
Conway Stands to Make Huge Profits At The Expense of Kentucky’s Coal Industry & Consumers
Conway Stonewalls Answering Why He Invested Over 90% of His Assets in Kinder-Morgan Which Will Profit from Cap and Trade
FRANKFORT – The campaign for Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Jack Conway admitted for the first time on Tuesday that in the Spring of 2009, on the eve of his Senate announcement, Conway invested up to $4.98 million in Kinder-Morgan Energy, a Texas energy company that is the largest distributor of natural gas in North America with 37,000 miles of pipelines.
Kinder-Morgan executives have been outspoken in their call for replacing coal with natural gas. Kinder-Morgan CEO Richard Kinder wrote an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle, saying investing in clean coal technology would be “wasting enormous sums of money.”
Conway’s investment in Kinder-Morgan came at the same time Congress is trying to pass ‘Cap & Trade’ legislation. According to Natural Gas Week, if a ‘Cap & Trade’ bill passes Congress, use of natural gas will increase significantly while use of coal will go down.
“How does Jack Conway justify investing millions in a Texas energy company that advocates replacing Kentucky coal with natural gas, a company in which Conway stands to profit at the expense of Kentucky’s coal industry, the thousands of Kentuckians it employs, and Kentucky consumers and small businesses who would have to pay higher electric rates? For Jack Conway to profit at the financial expense of Kentucky families is nothing less than outrageous,” said Kim Geveden, Mongiardo campaign spokesman.
According to Geveden, Conway is stonewalling answering the following questions:
- How much does Conway have invested in Kinder-Morgan Energy?
- From where or from whom did Conway get the millions to invest in Kinder-Morgan?
- What is the specific date Jack Conway invested in Kinder-Morgan? Was it in the days surrounding the launch of his campaign and establishment of his $5 million “margin” account at Hilliard Lyons?
- What is Conway’s relationship with Sara Morgan who contributed the double maximum – $4,800 – to his campaign on September 30, or her husband, Richard V. Morgan, the co-founder of Kinder-Morgan Energy?
“If ‘Cap & Trade’ passes, which Jack Conway previously supported, he stands to make a huge personal profit at the expense of Kentucky coal and Kentucky families who will have to pay significantly higher electric rates. Kentucky’s economy and families cannot afford Jack Conway,” said Geveden