From Jan 2008
He's looking to bankrupt the coal industry & to increase consumer costs for electricity. It's for our opwn good, donchaknow?
Obama said:What I've said is that we would put a, uh, cap-and-trade system in place that is more -- that is as aggressive if not more aggressive than anybody else's out there. So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that, uh, greenhouse gas that's being emitted.
Obama said:Regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money, they will pass that money on to consumers. If you can't persuade the American people that, yes, there's going to be some increase in electricity rates on the front end, but that over the long term because of combinations of more efficient energy usage and changing lightbulbs and more efficient appliances, but also technology improving how we can produce clean energy, that the economy will benefit. If we can't make that argument persuasively enough, you -- you can -- you can be Lyndon Johnson, you can be the master of Washington, you're not gonna get that done.
He's looking to bankrupt the coal industry & to increase consumer costs for electricity. It's for our opwn good, donchaknow?