In the Republican rebuttal, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he couldn’t understand how President Obama would say things that he knows are just not true. “The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy,” Daniels said. “It must be replaced by a passionate pro-growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills.”
American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity President and CEO Steve Miller pointed out a stark difference between candidate Obama and President Obama. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama embraced coal as America’s dominant source of electricity, Miller said.
In 2008, Obama said, “We could invest in renewable sources of energy and in clean coal technology and create up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs.”
But over the past three years, President Obama’s policies have been inconsistent with Candidate Obama’s rhetoric, Miller said. His regulations concerning electricity from coal could destroy more than a million jobs and subject families and businesses to higher energy prices. “The President needs to honor the pledges he made during the 2008 campaign by reaffirming his commitment to affordable, reliable electricity that will power our nation—a commitment that can only be met with coal,” Miller said.
