When Barack Obama promised that his non-energy energy policies would “bankrupt” anyone foolish enough to try to operate a coal-fired power plant, he talked as if he would only inflict pain on some inanimate structure of concrete and steel. Clever politician that he is, he depersonalized his war on fossil fuels all in the name of saving the planet.
What he didn’t mention, of course, is that real people work at these power plants, and real people have jobs harvesting and transporting coal, natural gas, and oil from deep inside the earth so that many more people may have sustained supplies of affordable energy to maintain a quality of life and productive work places. Furthermore, in energy producing communities any family or small business not directly connected to energy is still dependent on the health and vitality of the energy industry for their survival, too.
Craig is a town of just 10,000 people in the northwestern corner of Colorado. It is home to one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the country. A combination of new federal and state punitive regulations mistakenly aimed at the industry is threatening the very existence of the town and its citizens.
Below is a link to a short video that accurately represents the importance of a vibrant coal industry to everyone in that community. It’s not just brick and mortar that government over regulation will destroy – it’s the lives of real people like these. The impact of these new policies is only just beginning to be felt, but you can already see the severe consequences to the good folks who live here.
Worst of all, as the video mentions, most of these new destructive policies are based on falsehoods and phony myths. With today’s clean technology, fossil fuels are not the enemy. Given the chance, people in places like Craig would supply vastly greater amounts of affordable, dependable, domestically produced clean energy all across America.
Click here to watch The Perfect Storm over Craig