George Allen contrasts energy record against Obama/Kaine in Southwest Virginia

Grundy, VA – On Friday, George Allen was traveling throughout Southwest Virginia, listening to the concerns and ideas of hard-working people and highlighting his strong support for coal jobs even as Tim Kaine campaigns with President Obama.

In Norton, George Allen toured the Carbonite plant, which produces a clean-coal product that can be used for steel production and other applications. Allen has been a long-time advocate for Virginia coal jobs, championing investment in coal-powered technologies and facilities. He supports unleashing Virginia’s energy resources from our coalfields to our coast by reining in EPA regulations that are hurting families, allowing Virginia to explore for energy off our coast and championing clean coal technologies.

In contrast, Tim Kaine today is campaigning as an “unabashed” supporter of President Obama, whose policies are waging an assault on coal and diminishing jobs and opportunities for Virginia families. Kaine supports President Obama’s job-destroying Cap-and-Trade energy tax scheme that would virtually outlaw coal for generating electricity, cause enormous job losses, and according to President Obama, make electricity prices “necessarily skyrocket”. Tim Kaine has stood by as President Obama and their Washington allies cheer the EPA’s plan for even more regulations to prevent new coal-fired plants.

Additionally, President Obama’s EPA is over-regulating CO2 emissions in an effort to shut down coal-fired power plants and prevent new ones from creating much-needed jobs and affordable, reliable electricity. Virginians are presently feeling the adverse effects of these policies that hurt families through lost jobs and high energy costs. As Dickenson County Supervisor Gary Hall said today, "Southwest Virginia lives or dies on the outcome of this election.

"The anti-coal agenda of Tim Kaine and President Obama will turn Southwest Virginia coalfield communities into ghost towns,” said George Allen. “Coal is America’s most plentiful energy resource that powers our economy in Virginia and throughout the nation. I believe we ought to be using coal as cleanly and creatively as possible. So many jobs in Virginia are affected by coal – from the coal mine workers and suppliers to railroads to coal-empowered communities - including their small businesses, families and schools. I am committed to being the voice of hardworking men and women who want to stop an unelected EPA from issuing regulations that will prohibit the use of our plentiful American coal.”

George Allen also met with local residents, students and small business owners today in Pound, Clintwood, Grundy, Cedar Bluff and Tazewell County. For more information on George Allen’s plans to unleash our American energy resources, read his Blueprint for America’s Comeback.