The Political Bridge

Washington Post: EPA Crackdown on Mountain Removal is Being Criticized from Coal Workers and Environmentalists

“…But to many people in Appalachia, the orders coming out of Washington, especially one this month, have appeared contradictory and mysterious, signing off on some mines and blocking others. Environmentalists are unhappy because they fear federal officials are losing their nerve to take on the powerful coal industry. The coal industry is unhappy because it thinks the administration is on the brink of giving in to the green crowd…. “

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U.S. Senate Candidate Daniel Mongiardo(D-KY) Denounces EPA Decision to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions as Attack on Kentucky’s Economy and Coal Industry

Urges Conway to Join Him in Standing Up for Kentucky’s Working Families

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FRANKFORT – Lt. Governor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Mongiardo today strongly denounced as an “attack on Kentucky’s economy and coal industry” the Federal Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement that it would begin drafting regulations to selectively limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emission without waiting for Congressional action.
 
Mongiardo said, “While the EPA may have the legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emission, its decision to move forward unilaterally without Congressional action risks endangering Kentucky’s weak economy, without realizing any significant environmental benefits.  It defies common sense.  The EPA’s decision to selectively regulate gas emissions only at power plants, refineries and large, energy-intensive industries will fall hardest on states like Kentucky.  If this ill-conceived plan is allowed to go forward, it will cost Kentucky more jobs and increase electric rates significantly more for Kentucky consumers and damage Kentucky’s economy more relative to other states.”
 
Mongiardo challenged his Democratic Primary opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, to join him in denouncing the EPA’s decision to develop and selectively enforce regulations governing GHG emissions, “I am calling on Jack Conway to join me in taking a clear and decisive stand for Kentucky’s working families, condemn this Administration’s decision and urge Congress to take the necessary action to stop it.  Our families and our state’s economy are hanging by a thread.  Now is not the time for expressing ‘strong concerns’ or 'serious reservations.' Now is the time for standing up and being counted.  Will Jack Conway stand up for Kentucky’s working families and be counted?” Mongiardo asked.
 
Mongiardo jumped on EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s statement that her decision to selectively enforce greenhouse gas emissions regulations on some industries were reasonable, common-sense steps that would improve the environment “without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the better part of our economy.”

Mongiardo said, “Either Ms. Jackson has anointed herself as the sole arbiter of deciding what is a ‘good’ business and what is a ‘bad’ business or she is saying that she and EPA regulators under her direction – will decide which businesses, which states’ economies and which states’ consumers will bear the greater share of the costs for complying.  Either way, the audacity of such a statement is absolutely outrageous.  No bureaucrat should ever wield such unchecked power – to decide who will be ‘winners’ and who will be the ‘losers.’  Mongiardo added, “The fact is selectively imposing new emission regulations on some greenhouse gas emitters, but not all is blatantly unfair and should be unlawful.  By the agency’s own admission, refineries, power plants and large, energy-intensive industries account for only half of all GHG emissions.  Why is Ms. Jackson not applying the same rules and regulations to the other half?  Is it because doing so would be politically untenable?  Congress must assert itself and either change the law or withhold funding if the EPA insists on pursuing this ill-conceived path.”
 

 

The National Journal Spotlights the 2010 Kentucky Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate

(Reid Wilson, the article's author, suggests that mountaintop mining might be the key issue in this primary.)

Mongiardo, from the rural eastern part of the state, has cast himself as the candidate most likely to favor the coal industry.  Conway, from Louisville, is against mountaintop removal, a controversial method of mining that Mongiardo supports.

We've heard from several KY Dem strategists who say the issue could be a factor in the primary; the coal industry plays an outsized role in KY, even though it accounts for less than 1% of the jobs in the state...

To read more click The National Journal.com

Bluegrass Politics.Com, KY: Mongiardo (D-KY) claims that Conway(D-KY) Invested between $1 million and $5 million in Texas Energy

Conway reported in August with the U.S. Senate clerk that he had invested between $1 million and $5 million in Kinder-Morgan Energy in 2008, Mongiardo’s campaign (spokesperson Kim Geveden said)

 Geveden also repeated earlier comments that Conway needs to explain why he has more than 90 percent of his wealth invested in a Texas energy company that advocates using natural gas to replace Kentucky coal.

 Conway has countered by saying he would never do anything to hurt Kentucky coal.

To Read More; Click Texas Energy

The Dr. Dan Mongiardo(D-KY) Campaign for U.S. Senate Questions Conway's(D-KY) Millions in Investments to a Texas Energy Co.

NEWS RELEASE    

November 12, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kim Geveden, (502) 682-2010
[email protected] 

Annette Lee, (502) 498-4008 x230
[email protected]

Conway To Profit If Cap and Trade Passes, While KY Families Lose Jobs and Pay Higher Electric Bills

FRANKFORT---As reported in Monday’s Courier-Journal, according to his Senate personal financial disclosure statement, U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway has over the past year bought $1 million -$5 million worth of stock in Kinder-Morgan Energy LP, a Texas energy company that favors developing natural gas over developing clean Kentucky coal.

Not only is over 90% of Conway’s reported financial assets invested in Kinder-Morgan, but according to Conway’s 3^rd quarter FEC report, Sara Morgan, the wife of co-founder William V. Morgan, has contributed $4800 (the maximum allowed by law) to Conway’s campaign.

Kinder-Morgan is one of the largest natural gas transporters in North America.  It controls over 37,000 miles of pipelines to transport natural gas throughout the United States and Canada.  According to a Houston Chronicle op-ed in July,  Richard Kinder, CEO of Kinder-Morgan, said that, “natural gas and nuclear are the only answers for the next 10 to 20 years,” to address climate change, while developing clean coal technology will waste “enormous sums of money.”  

 “Jack Conway has serious questions to answer to Kentucky voters. Why over the past year has he bought millions of stock shares in a Texas energy company that favors natural gas over developing clean Kentucky coal? Why is the co-founder's spouse of this Texas company personally supporting Jack Conway? Kentucky voters deserve to know why Conway has put more than 90% of his wealth into one stock, a Texas energy company that advocates using natural gas to replace Kentucky coal – potentially destroying not only tens of thousands of jobs but causing electric rates and energy costs to soar for every Kentuckian.” said Kim Geveden, Mongiardo spokesperson.

According to Natural Gas Week natural gas prices will go up as natural gas is substituted for coal under cap and trade legislation.  As reported over the summer by the Courier-Journal and the Kentucky Enquirer, Jack Conway said he supports cap and trade legislation.

“No matter what Jack Conway says now on cap and trade, his investments tell the real story. If cap and trade passes, natural gas use will go up while coal use will go down. As a result, Jack Conway will make huge profits on his Kinder-Morgan stock holdings, while Kentucky families lose their jobs and pay higher electric bills.  Kentucky families simply can’t afford Jack Conway," said Geveden.

Geveden  noted, “For more than 10 years leading up to the Senate run, Conway’s investment  portfolio was widely diversified. The fact that Conway suddenly goes ‘all in’ and invests 91% of his entire financial holdings in one stock ($1 million to $5 million) raises questions. Conway’s actions turn the conventional wisdom of stock investing on its head – diversify, diversify, diversify. 

 Why did Conway all of the sudden invest 91% of his financial assets into Kinder-Morgan, a company that favors developing natural gas over Kentucky coal?” asked Geveden.

Pew Research Center: Majority of Americans Have Not Heard about the Cap-and-Trade Energy Plan

  
To Read More Click Pew

Fact Checking the House Cap-and-Trade Energy Bill: Jobs Will Be Lost

From Fact Check.Com

According to projections by the Energy Information Administration and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the net effect of the House cap-and-trade bill will likely be to slow future job growth. Using 11 different possible future scenarios, EIA projects that future job growth might be constrained by something between 388,000 (under the most optimistic assumptions) and 2.3 million (assuming everything goes badly) 20 years from now. CBO also says employment would likely be lower than it would without the legislation – but only "a little."

To Read More Click Fack Check

On WYMT-TV's Issues and Answer: Senatorial Candidate Jack Conway(D-KY) Goes on the Record for Mountain-Top Removal and Against the Kerry-Boxer Climate-Control Bill

(The mountain-top removal and energy segments start at the video's 9:00 mark.)

Watch Dr. Rand Paul(R-Candidate for U.S. Senate)Discuss KY Coal

A Pro-Coal Organization Launched Its Kentucky Campaign Last Week

From the Rural Blog

We reported last month about the coal industry's increased emphasis on grassroots organizing in the face of increasing concern about mountaintop-removal mining in Central Appalachia and climate-change legislation that the industry opposes. Now the pro-coal campaigns are moving from West Virginia to Kentucky.

The Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security, which calls itself "FACES of Coal," launched its Kentucky campaign last week. Dori Hjalmarson of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the group, funded by coal interests, seeks to "educate people outside the mining regions about the benefits organizers say coal brings to the state.