WOODBRIDGE, Va—Sen. Joe Biden touted solar energy but made no mention of his position on coal today, as his remarks on a YouTube video swirled around the Internet. The Obama campaign planned an afternoon conference call to discuss the issue.
Biden, at one point in his 20-minute speech, talked about how an Obama-Biden administration would invest in alternative energy technology, but he left coal off his short list.
"We're going to invest in solar. We're going to invest in retooling the automobile industry," he said, before moving on to health care and education topics.
The presidential campaign turned to energy after a video surfaced on YouTube showing Biden promising Ohioans “No coal plants in America.”
The comment came at an event in Maumee, Ohio, last Wednesday. Biden was shaking hands with supporters when a woman asked him, why, with wind and solar is flourishing in Ohio, he supports clean coal.
“We don’t support clean coal,” Biden said, looking the women in the eye and putting his hands on her shoulders.
“No coal plants here in America,” he said. “Build them over there (in China) if they’re going to build them, make them clean.”
Virginia Republicans seized on the comment as a campaign flip-flop. Biden was in Castlewood, Va., Saturday with coal miners, talking up his own roots in coal-heavy Pennsylvania.
“I have heard this before,” said Republican Del. Terry Kilgore of Bristol. “A lot of folks come down to Southwest Virginia and talk a different game.”
Republicans warned an anti-coal Democratic administration would cause electricity bills to rise in Virginia and other states where electricity relies heavily on coal-fired power plants.
The Obama campaign responded with a statement saying the McCain charges on coal are “yet another false attack from a dishonorable campaign.”
“Senator McCain knows that Senator Obama and Senator Biden support clean coal technology,” said Obama-Biden campaign spokesman David Wade. He pointed to the campaign’s plan to invest $150 billion over 10 years in clean energy technologies, including incentives to lead by developing clean coal facilities.
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