JULIAN, W.Va., Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- In an extensive interview with The Hill newspaper last week on cap-and-trade legislation and other public policy issues, Don Blankenship, Chairman and CEO of Massey Energy, warned that a climate change bill would wreck the nation's coal industry, injure the U.S. economy and send manufacturing jobs overseas.
Climate change legislation would also have global consequences, emphasized Mr. Blankenship. "If the U.S. ends up passing cap-and-trade, China wins and the U.S. loses," Mr. Blankenship stated. "I'm always fearful at some point in time there will be either an orchestrated effort or an epiphany in Asia where they realize [that by] agreeing to something that hurts the Western economy worst, that they will benefit," he added.
Questioned about the scientific evidence for global warming, Mr. Blankenship stressed the importance of the mathematics of climate change. "I think climate change is a normal course of history, that there is not any correlation that can be shown between man-made CO2 emissions and climate," he said. "I'm not a scientist, but I look at the math and I can't see the correlation," said Mr. Blankenship.
In response to a question about the political reality of global warming, Mr. Blankenship emphasized that truth is not determined by political expediency. "It doesn't matter to me too much what the political reality is, we still have to be truthful about it. I think it's telling that so many of the politicians will say cap-and-trade won't get dealt [with] next year because they will not want to take a vote on it in an election year, which basically says they don't feel like they are representing the public's views," he said.
When asked what the Obama Administration and Congress should do to support manufacturing jobs, Mr. Blankenship noted his differences with many Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of his opposition to free trade.
"I believe free trade has been disastrous for the country. I think the idea that it is just going to be manufacturing jobs lost has already been disproven. The service jobs will also be lost. It will get so you go to dial 911 and get another country to call an ambulance," Mr. Blankenship said.
Mr. Blankenship repeated his doubts that carbon sequestration was a life preserver for the coal industry. "I think carbon sequestration is only applicable in certain circumstances. A lot of utilities won't have the underground area to do it. The costs will be prohibitive....Basically, spending capital to triple the costs of your product is bad business even if it works, and enviros will probably come after CCS [carbon capture and sequestration] if it begins to be very widespread," he said.
Despite Mr. Blankenship's interest in policy issues, The Hill noted, Massey Energy has devoted little time or money on lobbying Congress. "I don't believe you can change the behavior of politicians by asking them to vote differently very often, particularly when you are viewed as having a personal interest in the issue. I think you have to take it to the public," Mr. Blankenship said.
Massey Energy Company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, is the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia and is included in the S&P 500 Index.
SOURCE Massey Energy
