Coal interests mobilizing against cap-and-trade bill as alliance with oil-and-gas lobby breaks down

The battle over climate change has come to the coalfield of Central Appalachia. Thousands of people turned out Saturday in Eastern Kentucky, left, to protest the House-passed bill to create a cap-and-trade-system for greenhouse-gas emissions, and in southern West Virginia coal interests say they're fighting a war for their lives. “We are in a war,” Gene Kitts, a senior vice president of International Coal Group, said during a recent “Decision Makers,” a West Virginia public affairs TV program, reports Mike Ruben of The State Journal, a statewide, business-oriented weekly newspaper.

“We’re under siege,” coal executive James “Buck” Harless of International Industries told Ruben. “There’s a mass movement against coal.” Some coal interests in Appalachia argue that passage of the bill would eliminate mining in the region. That appears speculative, but they also point to stricter Environmental Protection Agency regulation of mountaintop-removal strip mines. (Read more) Those at the Kentucky rally, in Knott County, "call coal mining part of their heritage and these supporters say they hope to continue their way of life for years to come," reported Dara Rees of WYMT-TV in nearby Hazard. (WYMT-TV video)

But some Appalachian residents say mountaintop mining can be better regulated without being eliminated, and those who put more emphasis on environmental concerns say the region must look for alternatives to an industry that is on its way out. Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette writes on his Coal Tattoo blog that the conflicts in Appalachia "are actually happening to one extent or another all over the world. Coal is a major contributor to climate change. But it’s also considered an abundant and — if you don’t count the externalized costs — a cheap fuel. People around the planet are wrestling with what to do about it." (Read more)

Meanwhile, "A coal and utility industry coalition has launched a major campaign pushing industrial and farm state Democratic senators to boost coal-friendly provisions in the Senate climate and energy bill," Politico's Lisa Lerer reports. "The coalition also plans to deploy teams to question senators at town hall meetings, advertise at state fairs and other summer events and visit lawmakers’ offices back home." (Read more) The coal lobby appears to be responding to an effort by the oil and gas industry to make the Senate version of the bill less friendly to coal. "The struggle promises to increase in the weeks ahead," Anne Mulkern of Greenwire writes for The New York Times. The headline: "Fossil-fuel groups form circular firing squad."(Read more)

UPDATE, Aug. 6: Mulkern reports, "Coal's biggest lobbying group is launching a $1 million campaign to win support from Senate Democrats, an effort that employs the same public relations firm ensnared by a scandal over forged letters to Congress." (Read more)