Hurricane Sandy swept into town this week, reminding Americans that climate change may be the Issue That Cannot Be Talked About, but that doesn’t mean it has gone away. Suddenly the fact that the two presidential candidates have been trying to outdo each other in professing their love for coal comes across as unseemly, if not downright perverse. Surely this would be a good time to acknowledge the impossibility of preventing the catastrophic effects of increasing carbon emissions if we are unwilling to stop burning the things that emit carbon-chief among them, coal.

So a war on coal might be a good idea, although the idea that the Obama Administration has been waging one is nonsense. The reasons for the decline of the coal industry are primarily the flood of cheap natural gas, which is out-competing coal as a fuel for electric generation, and the increasing cost of coal, especially in Appalachia.

Indeed, the Appalachian coal industry has been on the decline for years. The richest and most easily-reached coal has been mined, leaving thin seams that take more effort and expense to extract, pushing the price of Central Appalachian coal well above that of coal from the Powder River Basin further west.

From 1990 to 2006–before the recession, before the Obama presidency, and before the price of natural gas collapsed–Virginia coal mining declined from about 10,000 workers to about 4,500. (Source: http://www.energy.vt.edu/vept/…  The U.S. Energy Information Agency projects that Virginia coal production will continue to decline through the rest of this decade.

But coal executives prefer to lie to workers than admit they can’t compete in the free market, and the politicians who’ve taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the coal companies would rather parrot their lies than admit they have failed their constituents. Coal companies and their political bedfellows have been exploiting coal miners for two centuries; it’s no surprise to see them using these workers now as pawns in the presidential campaign.

But fingering the real culprits for coalworkers’ distress is the easy part; what’s harder is helping the residents of the coalfields areas find new jobs to replace the ones that are never coming back.

Ironically, in Virginia it has been environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices that have championed a plan to do just that. For several years they have been urging an end to the approximately $45 million annually in state taxpayer subsidies that currently go to enrich coal companies, and replacing them with incentives to support new jobs in tourism, technology, clean energy and other industries.

This proposal should have gotten traction last year, when a report by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) concluded that the subsidies do not achieve their goal of supporting coal employment, and indeed that  “changes in coal mining activity appear unaffected by the credits.” (http://jlarc.virginia.gov/reports/Rpt425.pdf)

One would have thought that Republicans especially might have jumped at the chance to cut $45 million per year of wasteful spending, or that Governor “Bob-for-Jobs” McDonnell would have gladly seized the opportunity to build a jobs program that did not add a new line-item to the budget.

Following the release of the JLARC study, the legislature and the Governor did act-to extend the coal company subsidies for several more years. The message to the residents of southwest Virginia could not have been any clearer: it’s the coal company executives and their money we care about, not the miners and their families.

The presidential election will be over in a few days. Regardless of who wins, the Virginia coal industry will continue its decline. The only question left is how long the miners will accept being lied to.

The Wealthy Romney’s are Just “So Charitable!” You’ve no doubt heard Ann Romney toot her own horn about how wonderful she and Mitt are for their “charitable donations,” which it turns out means donating to their own tribe, or church. But it isn’t exactly a donation per se. Like the rest of the 1%, Mittens uses the charitable remainder trust, which primarily serves Mitt and Ann themselves until they die, when what is left of the trust they have been draining, goes to the “charity,” their church. It is not that a church which has one of the steepest tithes in America is hurting for money, you understand. But the taxes Mitt avoids eventually comes out of our hides in either higher taxes for us, or loss of important government services and programs.

The charitable remainder trust is legal, but it is Exhibit A in the games the rich can play while pretending to be such wonderful benefactors. You see, as this Bloomberg article explains, they pretty much rent the church’s tax deductible status, pay no capital gains on gains within the trust, so the trust can grow even more.  

In other words, they get a regular pay check from the trust on which to live. At the same time the trust can grow untaxed, much like tax-deferred IRAs.  (Speaking of which, Mittens has also appears to have abused the rules for IRAs putting far more into one than is allowed. But I digress.)  The “charity” gets the trust after both Romney’s die.

But there here is often little of the trust actually going to the charity. Meanwhile, you and I pick up the tab because Mitt doesn’t pay much in taxes at all. He pays none on the trust payments he gets. There are other similar tax avoidance schemes used by the Romney’s with respect to their charitable donations. And none of this discussion includes the taxes avoided by his offshoring money in the Cayman’s, Bermuda, Switzerland and other countries. I have said it before, some patriot (snark). Now we can say, some charitable donor (snark).

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…

Join diverse coalition backing Flaccavento for Congress

ABINGDON, Va., Nov. 1, 2012 – Anthony Flaccavento, candidate for Congress from Virginia’s Ninth District, today received endorsements from two Virginia Sheriffs and Bristol firefighters, who joined a growing group of people and organizations in support of Flaccavento for Congress.

The sheriffs endorsed Mr. Flaccavento’s candidacy after learning of his proposal to pay deputies and other first responders a fair wage.

“Anthony Flaccavento stands with working men and women,” said Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman. “I know he’ll support me and my deputies in Congress, so we support him. Congressman Griffith says he doesn’t care about low pay for deputies, and that states should take care of it. I wish he had felt that way when he ran the General Assembly. I strongly endorse Anthony Flaccavento for Congress.”

Russell County Sheriff Steve Dye joined Newman in endorsing Flaccavento, as did the International Association of Firefighters local in Bristol.

“I’m honored to accept the endorsements of men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to protect us every day,” said Mr. Flaccavento. “I have always stood with the people who make America great: coal miners, farmers, loggers, steel workers, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies… These are the working men and women we need to support in order to continue to build strong local economies from the bottom up in southwest Virginia.”

Mr. Flaccavento has received endorsements from dozens of elected officials from all across southwest Virginia and at all levels of government, including Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). His history of support for middle-class and working-class families has earned him endorsements from 10 labor organizations, including the United Mine Workers of America, the Communications Workers of America and the United Steelworkers. Flaccavento also recently earned an endorsement from the Alliance for Retired Americans, which cited his “leadership on issues such as preserving and protecting Social Security and Medicare.”

Mr. Flaccavento was also recently endorsed by the Roanoke Times, which wrote, “If coal is to be the defining issue of this campaign, Anthony Flaccavento is the clear choice. Coal companies have no greater friend on Capitol Hill than first-term incumbent Rep. Morgan Griffith. Coal miners and their families could have no greater friend than challenger Flaccavento … Flaccavento demonstrates a thoughtful command of the issues that is unusual in a first-time candidate. On issue after issue, from health care reform to the deficit to taxes, he frames solutions in terms of what would most benefit the people of his district. That is a view that has been missing for the last two years under the tea partyer from Salem.”

“We’ve built a broad coalition, a winning coalition,” said Mr. Flaccavento. “We continue to gain momentum. But even more important than these groups and elected officials are the people who talk to me on the campaign trail. They share my commitment to creating strong local economies. This campaign has always been about building from the bottom up, and that’s how we’re going to win on Tuesday – people power.”

The full list of endorsements Mr. Flaccavento has received is available at bit.ly/endorseAF.

Anthony Flaccavento is a candidate for Congress from Virginia’s Ninth District. He is a family farmer and small business owner from Abingdon, in the heart of the district. Anthony has spent the last three decades working to promote economic development and sustainable farming practices in southwest Virginia. Please visit www.afor9.com for more information.